CAPE MAY POINT – According to its website, Cape May Lighthouse (built in 1859) is visited by nearly 100,000 visitors each year. When Chris O’Sullivan, Andrew Golato and Tim Masterson set out to visit all 11 lighthouses on the Jersey coast, they wound up in Cape May Point June 2 with a mission seldom, if any, before them had embarked on: to raise money for Waves 4 Water and Smile Train.
During their five-day ‘Chasing the Lightkeepers’ tour of 11 lighthouses, O’Sullivan and Golato, both Villanova students worked with Masterson, assistant coach of the Villanova Track team, to raise more than $4,000 for the James A. Masterson Foundation. “Most of the funds raised in the first year of the Masterson Foundation came from Tim just scrapping metal,” O’Sullivan said.
The James A. Masterson Foundation was founded in memory of Tim’s brother, who passed away suddenly in November 2008. “Jim was always a great inspiration in my life,” Masterson explained on the foundation’s website. “He showed through example how to live a compassionate life that was dedicated to the service of others. Jim always strived to make everyone feel special and important.”
The goal of the James A. Masterson Foundation is “to help the poor and victims of crisis…by showing compassion to those in need.”
The goal of ‘Chasing the Lightkeepers,’ was to visit lighthouses along the New Jersey coast in a renovated delivery truck, surf and tell people about the James A Masterson Foundation. When asked, “Why lighthouses?” O’Sullivan responded, “A lighthouse draws attention to dangers in the dark. ‘Chasing the Lightkeepers’ hopes to raise awareness to problems that exist but we can’t see.”
“Every day consisted of a 5 a.m. surf, followed by heading off to a lighthouse,” O’Sullivan said. “Then, at around lunchtime, we would set up shop outside of a specific lighthouse and do our best to spread the word about what the foundation stands for. We had numerous people stop by (at Cape May Lighthouse) … a lot of them found our cause to be one worth fighting for. Many of the passers-by had stories of their own, giving all three of us a better perspective on what this trip meant.”
The three lighthouse chasers plan to make a trip to South America this August to implement the new water filters as well as to orchestrate several cleft palate surgeries with the money raised from their recent tour.
“Yes, we had a lot of fun, driving the coast with not much to worry about other than where the next lighthouse was,” O’Sullivan said. “But it was also very stimulating, leaving a lot of questions answered but even more questions unearthed.”
To learn about the Masterson Foundation, visit www.mastersonfoundation.org or email chasing_the_lightkeepers@aol.com.
To contact Bryon Cahill, email bcahill@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
