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Members of PBA Local #206 kicked off the March 4 games early and raised $2,000 at a Monday dinner catered by Mayor John Birkner, Jr. at Caffe Anello on Monday night.
All donations will benefit Special Olympics New Jersey athletes -- among them, Westwood volleyball player Ed Murtagh, who helped New Jersey win a gold medal in the Special Olympics U.S.A. Games in 2014.
This will be Westwood’s first year participating in the Snow Bowl with Local 206, which includes officers from Emerson, Haworth, Old Tappan, Oradell, Park Ridge, River Vale, Washington Township and Woodcliff Lake.
“It just makes me feel really great as a mayor,” said Birkner, who helped Caffe Annello’s chef prepare pan-seared pork chop with escarole, garlic shrimp and butternut squash soup for diners Monday night.
The Snow Bowl gives people with special needs a chance to participate in and benefit from team sports, the mayor said.
“A lot of attention is paid to high-profile or collegiate athletes,” Birkner said. “Special Olympics itself is a remarkable organization that provides these people with their forum, and their place to achieve their successes.
“This is the kind of stuff I like.”
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