Schools

Letter: B.R.A.K.E.S. Group Thanks All for Success of Walk to School Day

Bikers, Runners, And Kids are Entitled to Safety thanks everyone who helped make Walk to School Day a tremendous success.

Dear Editor,       

The B.R.A.K.E.S. Group (Bikers, Runners, And Kids are Entitled to Safety) would like to salute all of the children of Westfield who walked to school on Wednesday and Thursday, October 3 and 4, in celebration of Westfield's annual Walk to School Day.  We had a tremendous turnout of over 2000 students plus family members who, despite the weather,  left their cars at home and walked to school instead.

The children were encouraged to wear something red, in order to be very visible.  Everyone got lots of fresh air and exercise, while freeing the streets around the elementary schools from the usual morning congestion and pollution. The aim of the day is to make walking to school a regular habit for many of these families.  To make it easier for parents who cannot walk their children to school on a regular basis, the BRAKES Group, in conjunction with the Westfield Town Council and administration continues to support a program called the Walking School Bus at the Westfield elementary schools. The program has been running for approximately 5 years and was funded by a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation, as part of its Safe Routes to Schools initiative.  We urge parents to take advantage of this program. For questions, please ask your local school PTO representatives. 

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We would like to thank everyone who helped make Walk to School Day a tremendous success. We would also like to thank our local "celebrities" who walked with the children who were lucky enough to win our raffles, including Acting Mayor Jo Ann Neylan, Deputy Fire Chief David Kelly, Sergeant Jason McErlean, Detective Lisa Perrotta, Town Councilman Mark LoGrippo, Tamaques' Tammy the Tiger, and the six elementary school principals:  Marc Biunno (McKinley), Dr. Eileen Cambria (Franklin), Michael Cullen (Tamaques), Jeanette Munoz (Jefferson), Dr. Andrew Perry (Washington), and guidance counselor, Frank Uveges, filling in for Joseph Malanga (Wilson).  A special thank you to Michael Scott at Coldwell Banker for his continued support of this event.

Mary Camacho

Find out what's happening in Westfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

B.R.A.K.E.S. Group of Westfield

B.R.A.K.E.S. = Bikers, Runners, And Kids are Entitled to Safety


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