How fast can your team pull a 7,500-pound tractor 20 yards?
On June 1, the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, New Jersey Metro chapter will welcome teams of up to six people to Pull for a Cure on Sunday, June 1 at Carriage Farm at 2 Clerico Lane, in Hillsborough. Participants must be 18 years old or older.
Pulling for a Cure is a friendly competition where teams will vie to pull a tractor across 20 yards. And the team who can pull the fastest will come out on top. It’s the first of its kind event that the New Jersey Metro chapter board of trustees hopes will become an annual event. They also hope the event can be replicated in other parts of the nation.
“We thought this would be a great way for our board to get together to benefit the MS Society,” said Board Chair Mary Turso, noting the society chapter already sponsors annual Walk MS and Bike MS events every year. “These are great fundraising events. For the board, who are all volunteers, we wanted to hold something where our families can come together and have a relaxing day of fun and raise money for a great cause.”
Registration for the event opens at noon and an opening ceremony and competition will begin at 1 p.m. Belle Mead Garage loaned the society board a Massey Ferguson tractor for the competition. Turso noted since New Jersey is known for its agriculture, they thought a tractor would be fitting for the event.
On site there will be live music, food trucks, Flounder Brewing Co. and Bellamara Distillery, lawn games as well as prize baskets and 50/50 cash raffles. A percentage of proceeds will go towards the society. Flounder Brewing Co. and Bellamara Distillery will have a special drink on tap just for the day.
The National MS Society is a national organization with 31 geographic chapters.
“We serve people in New Jersey,” said Yasmin Nielsen, president of the National MS Society, New Jersey Metro. “The society’s role is primarily to fund research and provide services to those living with MS.”
Turso has been involved with the MS Society for over 30 years.
“Early on I was joining the walk events and served as team captain,” she said. “I got involved because my mother was diagnosed with MS about 60 years ago now and there were no treatments at that time.”
Over the years when she saw the impact and breakthrough treatments made with the National MS Society, it was easy to stay involved.
“When I retired, I had some more free time and that’s when I joined the board of trustees and just kind of played different roles where there was a need,” Turso said, who oversees a volunteer board of 18 members.
For Nielsen, who oversees a team of 15 as president of the New Jersey Metro chapter, finding a cure for MS has become “a cause near and dear to my heart.”
“Especially now I’ve been here for four years,” she said.
In New Jersey, the MS Society supports the community through support groups for both individuals living with MS and their caregivers/family members – there are 24 groups in the society’s footprint alone. There are also six Comprehensive Care Centers, Nielsen said.
A Comprehensive Care Center in relation to the National MS Society is a healthcare facility that provides coordinated, multidisciplinary care for people with MS, with a focus on managing the disease, promoting comfort, function, independence, and overall health and wellness. These centers are recognized by the National MS Society for their expertise and commitment to high-quality MS care.
- The National MS Society was founded in 1946 (March) by a woman named Sylvia Lawry who was looking for answers for her brother who was diagnosed with MS. The Society is also one of 48 organizations forming the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation.
- The National Multiple Sclerosis Society funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world and provides services designed to help people with MS and their families live their best lives. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS, Nielsen said.
- The Society has invested more than $1.1 billion to advance MS research and paved the way for every effective MS treatment available today, including the first therapies for primary progressive and pediatric MS.
- The Society leads the International Progressive MS Alliance, a one-of-a-kind global research network aimed at accelerating the development of new, effective treatments for progressive MS.
- In New Jersey, almost 15,000 people live with MS – thousands more are affected by it as they are the loved ones, care givers, friends and family of individuals living with MS. Over 1 million people in the U.S. live with MS.
What Is Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. This system controls everything we do. MS disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. An individual’s experience with MS may change from day to day and year to year. Symptoms also vary from person to person and can include:
- Fatigue
- Memory difficulties
- Mood changes
- Mobility issues
- Numbness
- Pain
- Tingling
- Vision impairment
MS can affect different areas of the body. Symptoms depend on where inflammation and damage are occurring at any specific time.
Register a team to get in on the competition or come enjoy a fun afternoon. A rain date is scheduled for June 8. For more information visit https://pullingforacuremssociety.cheddarup.com.
