Students at the Christian Brothers Academy recently rowed their way to a $48,000 donation to the Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski, II Memorial Fund.
The monies will be used to help provide service dogs with veterans.
The fund is named for CBA and West Point graduate, Dennis Zilinski of Middletown, who was killed in action by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005.
The fund raiser was held in the CBA school gym in Lincroft.
The row-a-thon – also known as an ergothon – raises funds by having participants competitively row as individuals or as part of a team. Stationary rowing machines are connected and electronically monitored.
“What this event means to us is immeasurable,” said Marion Zilinski, Co-Founder and Board Member of the Zilinski Memorial Fund and Zilinski’s mother. “Dennis went to school at CBA, and these students honored him while helping wounded warriors by pairing them with service dogs,”
The Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski, II Memorial Fund was created and founded a year after Zilinski’s death. He was a member of the 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division.
Since his untimely death, family and friends have united with the Memorial Fund to provide support to improve the morale and welfare of members of the United States Armed Forces and their families.
One of the main accomplishments of The Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski, II Memorial Fund is to sponsor service dogs for disabled American veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. To date, the Zilinski Memorial Fund has sponsored more than 100 service dogs.
Additionally, the Zilinski Memorial Fund provides scholarships to students at CBA, Zilinski’s alma mater.
