Runner Raises More Than $1,100 for Pfeiffer Fund

As Hal Smolanoff rounded the final legs of Sunday's Jimmy D 5K race in New Brunswick, he found himself slowing down. Seeing him lag, a fellow runner ran close to him and spoke words of encouragement.

"Some guy came up behind me and said, 'let's go, we're almost there,'" he said.

Running the race in memory of firefighter Jim Pfeiffer, including wearing a sign on his shirt in Pfeiffer's memory, Smolanoff said he thought that, just maybe, the words of encouragement were not just from the runner.

"He didn't say anything to anyone else," he said of the fellow runner. "Makes you wonder. Maybe I got a little push from up above."

Smolanoff ran the 5k to raise money for the Carly Pfeiffer Memorial Fund, named after the daughter of Jim Pfeiffer, a 30-year-old third generation Westfield firefighter who died following a freak accident at his Mountainside home.

Smolanoff raised $1,130 for the Pfeiffer Fund, which was set up by the firefighters' union for one-year-old Carly Pfeiffer's educational needs. Smolanoff is a friend of FMBA President Mike Sawicki, which led him to run the race in dedication of Pfeiffer.

The name of the race itself is also a salute to a firefighter – Jimmy D 5K was set up in memory of Jimmy D'Heron, a deceased member of the Middlesex County Fire Department.

Many of Smolanoff's donations came from members of the Westfield community, along with classmates of Pfeiffer, a 1998 graduate of Cranford High School. Pfeiffer has been saluted as a heroic firefighter who had a caring nature and was a friend to everyone he met. In 2005, Pfeiffer received national acclaim for rescuing a one-year child who was trapped in a narrow hole in Tamaques Park.

Donations to the Carly Pfeiffer Fund can be sent c/o the Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association at 405 North Avenue West, Westfield, NJ 07090.