Dear Editor:
I wanted to pass this along to especially thank Bill Gaughan, Jersey City Councilmember and Chief of Staff to the County Executive. I am the president of the North Jersey Junior Lacrosse League. We oversee all youth lacrosse, some 17,000 players from the ages 8 to 15 in northern New Jersey. I recently coordinated a “stick run,” similar to a torch run on April 4, 2009, that coincided with the Big City Lacrosse Classic at Giants Stadium. I hatched this idea on December 8, 2008 and proposed this to our league for approval and commitment.
The only way this event was to occur was if I received help from Bill Gaughan. Bill has done so much for the youth of Jersey City and Hudson County; I thought he would definitely be on board. I met with him and spoke about the “stick run,” not only was he on board, but he guided me how to approach the different government entities that were going to be involved. The stick run was to start at “Ground Zero” and end at Giants Stadium, the stick would be delivered to the referees by children of a special needs recreation program. The goal was to bring awareness to programs of this nature. I explained to him that this is the first time I was doing anything like this. He not only threw out names of people I need to speak with, he got the meetings with them. We then met with Hudson County Sheriff Juan Perez and his Chief John Bartucci, to hammer out the logistics. Bill Gaughan then instructed me who to call at Port Authority of NY/NJ, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office and the list went on. After that meeting not one phone call was what they say in sales “a cold one,” everyone I spoke with was expecting my call.
The “Big City Stick Run” would never have happened if it were not for Mr. Gaughan. He is a real gentleman and a true civic leader who really cares. He made this happen for all the right reasons and I, along with the entire youth lacrosse community and Special Angels Recreation are forever grateful. The residents of Hudson County are fortunate to have a leader like Bill Gaughan.
Sincerely,
Jim Donovan
North Jersey Junior Lacrosse League