Morris Plains fathers play to help sick children

Ruse on the Loose column originally published Dec. 6, 2015.

Nine years ago when the members of the Morris Plains Five Corners Cornhole Association held a tournament to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the group was happy to pass along a check for $9,000.

But the members of the organization realized they missed having a connection to a specific child.

“That was the one piece that was missing. So we said, let’s do this on our own, as a club, raising money,” said President Bob O’Brien, who raised four children with his wife Emily in Morris Plains.

“Our whole purpose is to put a smile for a day on a child we’ve never met. If we see the child, who comes in kind of nervous and at the end of the day, they’re running around and they’re smiling and they’ve forgotten about their sickness for a day, we’ve done our good deed.”

This year, the Morris Plains Five Corners Cornhole Association will hold its 8th Annual Cornhole event in memory of Mackenzie Wright and to benefit Dylan from noon to 5 p.m. on Jan. 30, 2016 at the Hyatt Morristown at Headquarters Plaza, located at 3 Speedwell Ave. in Morristown.

The event is open to everyone. Entry fee is $80 and includes four games minimum, food, refreshments, music and the chance to help a child struggling with cancer. Spectators can pay $30 to attend which includes food and entertainment. A tricky tray and contests will also be held.

The first recipient of the Morris Plains FCCHA’s benevolence was Mackenzie Wright, who was diagnosed with advanced alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in March of 2004 when she was 16 months old. She died in 2010 at age 7, less than six months after the FCCHA honored her. The group decided to name the tournament in her honor because she made it special, according to founding member Chris Johnson.

For more information, to enter or to make a donation, visit mpfccha@yahoo.com or visit www.mpcornhole.org.

Each year’s honoree is usually selected through someone in the organization who knows about a child in need. This year’s recipient, Dylan Canfield, was nominated by a long-time tournament player who learned of the youngsters’ illness. Once the child is chosen, O’Brien meets with the family to connect with them.

“I talk with the family and make sure they’re okay and tell them what we’re all about. We all stay connected through this event. It grows each year and so many people want to be involved with it. It’s just something that’s different than any other type of fundraiser that you’ll see. This year, it’s about Dylan and his mother.”

Dylan was diagnosed with cancer in August and has been responding well to treatment. But his toughest hurdles remain ahead when he begins a more aggressive cycle of drugs with unknown side effects. He will turn seven on Jan. 25, five days before the tournament. His mom Elissa is helping Dylan fight as a single mother, having lost her husband Bill to lung cancer when Dylan was just 7-months-old.

“A girlfriend of mine who I used to work with, she and her husband do this event. When Dylan got sick, she thought of us and threw our hat in the ring and they decided to move forward with us, which is great. The support from everybody, within my community, within other communities, you never expect it and it’s made a really difficult time easier,” said Elissa Canfield, a resident of Glen Rock.

“Everyone’s just been so amazing, beyond anything I could ever have expected or dreamed of. Hopefully he’ll be feeling pretty good by the end of January so that we can go to the event. We certainly have something to look forward to.”

The Morris Plains Five Corners Cornhole Association, so named because of Morris Plains’ Five Corners, was started by four fathers _ Pete Whelan, John Kieley, O’Brien and Johnson. They would meet every week to play until their work, families and just everyday living, got in the way of playing. Instead, the four friends decided to put their game to good use and host a tournament to benefit a child.

“We just looked at each other and said, what’s common with all of us and we said, well, we all have healthy children. So we said, let’s figure out how we can help someone and that’s how it developed. It’s really a group of four fathers that run this event annually,” O’Brien said.

“We typically raise somewhere around $9,000 a year and the money gets passed off to the family, how they need it. That’s what it’s about. The nice thing is everybody feels connected when they leave for the day because they met the child or in prior year’s we’ve had to Skype them in because they were too sick to come to the event. But we make it work. Whatever works for the child.”

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Flanders resident earns promotion

InQuest Marketing, a full-service marketing communications agency in Rockaway, recently promoted Caitlin Knissel to account executive. A resident of Flanders, she holds her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies from Bloomsburg University.

Staff Writer Leslie Ruse: 973-428-6671; lruse@GannettNJ.com.