When 16-year-old Courtney Trzcinski of Cutchogue saw a commercial about “Steptember,” a fundraiser for cerebral palsy research, she immediately knew she wanted to get involved.
“It was something I really wanted to do,” said the Mattituck High School junior. “Something I really should do.”
The annual Steptember project, organized by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, raises money for research and services for children with cerebral palsy. The term cerebral palsy covers a group of disorders caused by damage to the brain during pregnancy or childbirth. It affects muscle tone, movement and motor skills and can be mild or severe.
Although Courtney doesn’t know anyone with cerebral palsy, she thought it was a good cause and wanted to be involved. She contacted a group of friends and asked them to help out.
“The idea behind Steptember is to take 10,000 steps a day,” she said. “One step for every person who can’t take a step themselves.”
Participants receive a pedometer from the foundation and find friends, relatives and local businesses to sponsor their steps. Progress is logged on the Steptember website.
Courtney said taking 10,000 steps a day wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be.
“You’d be surprised at how many steps you take in a day,” she said.
In addition to the steps, Courtney and her friends — many of whom are members of the NJROTC — organized two fundraisers: a car wash and a bake sale.
Last weekend the car wash they held at the Cutchogue Fire Department raised over $800. Yesterday’s bake sale raised $344, upping the total amount to over $2,000.
Courtney’s mom Debbie Trzcinski, who also joined the effort, said that many local businesses have made independent contributions.
“They’ve all been very generous,” she said. “And the Cutchogue Fire Department was so helpful, letting us set up there and providing all the supplies.”
Trzcinski said that they had planned to bring the leftovers from the bake sale to the fire department to say thank you, but as it turned out they sold everything except six cookies. She brought them to the firefighters anyway.
If you would like to make a donation to Courtney’s Steptember team, contact Debbie Trzcinski at 631 252-0701. Any amount is welcome, Trzcinski said.
