METUCHEN — As Super Bowl XLVIII festivities got underway last weekend, three area high schools came together for football, charity and fun at St. Joseph High School.
Showstoppers Plus of North Brunswick presented the SuperFest Special Bowl on Jan. 26, which included games, music, a meatball contest, a talent show, and a live performance from John Pizzi, a standup comic and ventriloquist who has appeared on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
The event was tailored to See the children with special needs. Proceeds benefited Funabilities, an elementary school program promoting balance in life, and Life Without Limitations, which addresses driving concerns for New Jersey high school students. The organization is led by Gabe Hurley, a 2003 graduate of St. Joseph’s who was seriously injured in a car crash that involved a 17-year-old driver.
Laura Gibbons, who organized the event, said it was something that she thought would be great for the community since the Super Bowl was being held in New Jersey this year.
Students from North Brunswick Township High School (NBTHS), St. Joseph High School and Hunterdon Central Regional High School volunteered their time at the event.
Jess Wild, Leah Kleiman and Star Castillo, all seniors at Hunterdon Central, spent time collecting money for the raffle tickets.
Wild said many of them who came to the event are part of the National Honor Society. The Special Bowl was one of many opportunities they have had to volunteer their time.
Vincent Gibbons, a junior at NBTHS, said he enjoys the smiles on the kids’ faces when helping out.
John Decibus traveled to the event with his daughter Jennifer, 34, from Carteret.
“I heard about the event on the radio, and I thought we would check it out and see what it was all about,” he said.
Jennifer said the event reminded her of Helping Hands for the Disabled, which was held in the parking lot of the Club at Woodbridge for many years, and that she found the event to be “cool.” She noted that she has participated in the track-and-field events and bocce during the Special Olympics in Trenton. Decibus said this was a nice event for all the children with video special needs. gmnews.com Vendors and sponsors for the event included Work Out
World, Pole Position, Ivone
Maloney Massages, REC Solar, News 12 New Jersey, Origami Owl, Showstoppers Plus, Fords Jewelers, Gallus Survey of North Brunswick, NJ Manufacturers and DeVry University’s North Brunswick campus.
Greater Media Magic 98.3’s John Patterson was on hand with WCTC’s Bert
Baron to lead the event.
The businesses that participated in the meatball contest included Panico’s in New Brunswick, Filippo’s in New Brunswick, Novita in Metuchen, Pasquale’s in East Brunswick, Villa Borghese in Fords, Zinna’s Bistro in Cranbury and Harvest Deli in New Brunswick.
Novita came in second, and Harvest Deli won first place.
Viral Booth of New Jersey, based in
Fords, hosted a photo booth with a variety of props. The images could be sent to various forms of social media in an instant.
To end the event, some students — including Hurley on guitar — showed off their skills during the talent portion of the event.
For more information about the event, visit showstoppersplus.com.