IRVINGTON, NJ — The 2015 installment of the annual Irvington Fire Department Cancer Walk took place Sunday, Oct. 11, and many from the Irvington community — from the Fire and Police departments to township government, the Board of Education, the public schools, the business community, service groups and organizations like the Rotary Club and NAACP and residents of all ages — participated in the event that began and ended in Civic Square. The event’s organizer, Firefighter Mike Scott, said it was a dream come true.
A few years ago, Scott organized the township’s first-ever Breast Cancer Walk because he said he’d seen such events in other cities and towns and believed that Irvington should have one, too.
“We’re doing this again … bigger than ever,” Scott said Sunday, Oct. 11. “This is about breast cancer. … I thought it was a good cause to do for the township of Irvington, to have the town do something. Newark has one every year. I figured: why doesn’t Irvington have one?”
And now, thanks to Scott and the Fire Department, Irvington has its own Cancer Walk. He said he envisioned it as true township event, so “when I put it down on the flier, it was the Fire Department, Police Department and Town Hall — every employee that has to do with Irvington.”
“I want people to come out and leave here with a feeling of accomplishment,” Scott said. “The first time I started this, I had 50 people. Now we’re up to about 400 to 500 people. So it’s getting bigger and bigger every year. More people are starting to be more conscious of the stuff that’s going on around here.”
Scott, who is currently the president of the Irvington Fire Department’s International Association of Firefighters Local 305, credited his members with helping to make this year’s Cancer Walk a success.
But Scott said, as successful as the annual Cancer Walk has become, it was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the community-oriented activities he and his fellow firefighters want to do for Irvington residents. He said there are big things coming up in Irvington.
“We’ve got Halloween on Oct 31. On Nov. 8, we have our retirement party for about 29 firemen and officers that we’re going to be honoring at Nuno’s restaurant in Roselle,” Scott said. “On Nov. 22, we’re actually going to have something else. … I don’t actually want to give it away, but it’s charitable for certain people during the holidays. It’s something that we want to do for certain people around Thanksgiving and Christmas time.”
Mayor Tony Vauss, along with almost every elected official in town, also participated in the annual Cancer Walk. The mayor said he’s grateful to Scott and the IFD for instituting the event, which has grown into a local tradition.
“Today is the Breast Cancer Walk and we’ve got a lot of people out here; every year, it gets bigger and bigger and it’s just a new vibe in Irvington and everybody’s feeling really good about what we’re doing,” Vauss said Sunday, Oct. 11. “Everybody plays a role. Mike has been doing this
every year and he’s been doing a great job. A lot of people have some good ideas about what they want to bring to the township and now they have the opportunity to explore their ideas and make their dreams become a reality and share it with all the community.”
Vauss said he expects next year’s Breast Cancer Walk to be “bigger and better than ever.” Fire Director John Brown agreed with Vauss and said he was proud of Scott and all who helped organize the event.
“Today, we had a beautiful turnout to walk to fight against cancer,” Brown said on Sunday, Oct. 11. “We had a couple hundred people out here … everybody out here walking to try to stamp out cancer.”
Brown said the walk was a great thing because, “When you’re in public service, especially in the fire department, you become very understanding of what happens when people lose everything.
“It touches your heart to see somebody lose their home or (for) somebody to perish in a fire and, as firefighters, we see that every single day and, the more we see that, the more it makes us want to give back to the community.”
But Brown, unlike Scott, said he does have personal reasons for supporting the fight against cancer in all its forms.
“A lot of people have died from cancer; a lot of people are still suffering from cancer and my father is actually a cancer survivor,” Brown said. “He’s been in remission for about 10 years, so it’s a great thing to keep walking and walking to shine a light on it, so it just doesn’t get put on a backburner. People are still seeing that this is affecting millions and millions of people’s lives every day and this is one way to say: Let’s do something about it. Let’s get rid of cancer.”