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A stroll along the Asbury Park’s boardwalk Saturday will be more than a chance to enjoy the oceanfront for thousands of women served by Mary’s Place by the Sea in Ocean Grove.

The noon walk-a-thon, is the nonprofit’s Fifth Annual Let’s Walk Together fundraising event to support its mission of providing women diagnosed with cancer the opportunity to heal: mind, body, and soul.

For the first time it will traverse from neighboring Ocean Grove to the end of the city’s boardwalk at its Loch Arbour border and back, organizer Clare Freda said.

“It’s really a collaborative event,” she said. “We have 30 volunteers who help pull it together and add support.”

The inaugural event raised $50,000 via 200 participants and grew to 1,200 participants who raised $160,000 last year.

“We’re getting closer to reaching our $200,000 goal,” said Freda, who also serves as Mary’s Place office manager.

“Because our program is individualized, we have guests here that we get know intimately,” co-founder Michele Gannon said. “The walkathon is the one day where we can actually see our impact. Guests on the healing road come together with families who have lost a love one. Because we have made the journey with them, they become an extended family.”

The walk comes on the cusp of the May 31^st opening of the nonprofit’s new home on Main Street in Ocean Grove.

Mary’s Place closed its Ocean Avenue location on February 28. The nonprofit borrowed space in Asbury Park in the interim to serve its guests, making the walk’s inaugural shift through the city even more significant.

It took 18 months to construct the four-story haven that will offer gratis alternative services that compliments existing medical treatments. There are oncology massages, nutrition education, individual and group therapies, journaling, reflexology, reiki, yoga, and guided meditations, to name a few.

“It’s about the individual,” Gannon said.

The new location was made possible not only by a local rallying effort but by a nationwide community, spokeswoman Melanie Knobel said.

“It’s really the community that built this house,” Knobel said. “Tens of thousands of people gave $10, $20 at a time to help build this house.”

The result, an expansion of services and the shift from a four to a 10 bedroom facility, complete with ADA access and accommodations; an elevator; massage, spa and yoga rooms; a communal kitchen and dining room; non-denominational chapel and meeting space.

“This place was built in consideration of the community,” cofounder Maria McKeon said.

The state of the art, energy efficient home features a security system that not only allows for the measuring of light and room temperature via a wall mounted iPad but the ability to control calming music throughout the facility.

Third party fundraisers were held and service donations were given by everyone from the landscaper to her builder husband Paul Gannon.

“It took a lot of people all doing a little bit,” Gannon said. “It was all built on faith.”

Faith and a continued rallying of services and donations will help fund the new facility’s $45,000 per month operating budget.

“As a nonprofit and a business, you have to have sustainability,” Gannon said. “Our guests need to know that we be here forever. When a woman is in crisis, we have to be there to catch them. And when a woman [goes into remission], we have to be there for the post treatment. The now what?”

Chances are, the foundation is well built: individual contributions from across the nation make up 82 percent of Mary’s Place funding support, with 14 percent coming from Corporations and 4 percent from Foundations.

Since 2009, Mary’s Place has served over 5,000 women. Last year, 658 individuals received support, many of them returning repeatedly.

Of its annual $420,000 operating budget, 80 percent is earmarked for programs, 12 percent for administrative costs and 8 percent for fundraising initiatives.

With the facility’s expansion, comes an expansion of services.

McKeon will help coordinate a pilot program with Monmouth University that allows its Psychological Counseling graduate students to provide services under the tutelage of their advisors.

“This is the type of support that is so needed,” McKeon said. “They will be creating a support program for our guests, their spouses, children and caretakers.”

New initiatives will include creative writing and journaling workshops, learning how to skype in order to stay in touch with loved ones, as well as cooking and juicing classes.

“We kept going to Dean’s [Natural Food Market] to get juices for our guests and one day he just passed us a juicer and said, ‘Here I think you could use this,” McKeon said.

The new facility’s main floor offers an open concept greeting room adjacent to its communal kitchen space. The floor houses a dining room that, as in most homes, will serve as the conversational centerpiece of Mary’s Place.

“Here is where you can really let your guard down and be yourself,” Knobel said.

The kitchen’s focus is on oncological nutrition, allowing guests to come together to create healthy meals. And a sanctuary/meeting room will double as its educational class and yoga space.

The ground floor hosts the office space as well as sound proofed spa, massage and meditation hubs. The 10 guest suites are divided among the upper two floors with two ADA compliant bedrooms. Each boast a simple décor with soft, warm hues differentiating one from the next.

“All of those details were put into this home to create a haven for our guests,” Gannon said. “We provide that gap in their treatment but I think we are also a lifeline and a resource.”

Mary’s Place by the Sea is located at 22 Main Ave in Ocean Grove. The Fifth Annual Mary’s Place at the Sea Let’s Walk Together kicks off at noon from Ocean Avenue at Ocean Pathway in Ocean Grove. Adult registration fee is $40, and $25 for children ages 10 to 17. Check in begins at 11 a.m.

To make donations or for more information visit www.marysplacebythesea.org.

[top five photos courtesy of Mary’s Place]

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