Andrew Levine

From almost any comparison, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Andrew Levine are as different as two people can be. However, education and physical fitness are two issues the fashion and pop culture icon and Levine, a Scotch Plains resident share in common and like Combs two years ago, Levine is using his feet to support education.

When Combs, better known as P Diddy, completed the 2003 New York City Marathon in four hours, 14 minutes and 54 seconds on only two months of training, he raised over $2 million in funds from "Diddy Runs the City" that went to NYC's public school system, the Children's Hope Foundation, which helps children with HIV/AIDS, and Daddy's House.

Diddy appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show the day after the 2003 race and said he would never run a marathon again.

“He did raise over $2 million for the New York City Public School System and earned an enormous amount of praise and publicity in the process,” said Levine.

Levine was impressed with Comb’s charitable venture and had wanted to find a worthy organization to support while running this year’s New York Marathon. Enter Sharon Machrone, the Development Associate at the Link Community School in Newark, who over dinner told Levine about the School and invited him for a visit.

“Sharon's passion for Link is contagious,” says Vice Principal Maria Pilar Paradiso, Director of Institutional Advancement at Link.

Levine visited the school in early September, took a tour and met some of the teachers and students.

“I was very impressed at what I saw and decided to go forward.” Levine recalled

Levine’s fund raising goals are much more modest. He is hoping to raise $14,600, which would be enough to sponsor one student at the school.

In its fourth decade, Link aims to provide a very powerful and highly effective learning community for students of all academic abilities for two years according to their mission statement.

“Students show tremendous growth during that time, as evidenced by substantial growth in standardized test scores that is on average well above the norm,” said Paradiso.

“Link also aims to place students in top high schools in the region and ensure they
have the skills to succeed in those programs, as evidenced by 100 %
acceptance to private schools and scholarships totaling nearly $5 million
for the past four years, and an average high school graduation rate of 94%,
well above the state average of 86% and the Newark citywide average of 44%.”

Many graduates are currently attending private high schools such as
Seton Hall Prep, Pingry School, Newark Academy, Lawrenceville School,
Morristown Beard School, St. Vincent Academy, St. Benedict's Prep, Delbarton
School, Marist High School, Episcopal School, St. George's School,
Immaculate Conception High School, Purnell School, and The Raban Gap School,
as well as the top magnet schools in Newark--Science High School, Arts High
School.

“Our students develop great confidence while they are here and become
very active at their respective schools,” added Paradiso.

“If I had more time, I probably would have approached him about a challenge grant,” said Levine.

"I was hoping if I beat his 2003 time he would match every gift, but he is a big-time celebrity and getting through to the right people seemed like a major challenge,” said Levine, who considers training enough of a challenge.

Although he is a much more accomplished and experienced runner, having competed for the past fifteen years, he has yet to beat Comb’s 2003 New York time. This is his fifth New York Marathon, also having run in 1998 1999, 2001, and 2003. He also ran The New Jersey Shore Marathon in 2004.

His previous best time was 4:38 in 2003 and his worst was 1999 when his 5:32 mark proved that his five-week training plan was too short.

“I just wasn’t in shape for that one. I learned a good lesson about preparation,” said Levine with a chuckle.

“Training is going well,” said Levine who usually does his weekend runs with a group that meets at the tennis courts each Saturday morning at Tamaques park in Westfield. The group has been meeting for over twenty years and have never missed a day no matter how tough the conditions.

“I did twenty miles in week five and week three. I had never actually done a twenty-mile training run before so this is progress. I've also been doing a weekly track workout, which seems to be helping with my speed.

“Running with the group really helps. There are some experienced, motivated people there,” said Levine.

Beating Diddy’s time is not going to be easy.
“That’s knocking 23 Minutes off my best time,” admitted Levine.
“But I'm in better shape and have strong motivation to "beat Diddy."
Unfortunately, the heat and humidity proved too much for Levine to overcome and he
Faded badly in the last ten miles to record a time just over five hours.

Combs was determined to run the race on his 33rd birthday, and vowed to raise $1 million for children in doing so. By all accounts, "Diddy Runs the City" raised twice that amount. Among those donating funds to the cause were Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Charity was not new to Combs: He founded Daddy's House in 1995 to provide academic tutoring to youths

“We admire his determination and commitment to raise funds for the NYC public schools; we are equally stirred by Andy's passion for our mission and his desire to spread the word about Link and sponsor one of our students ,” said Paradiso.

Combs told reporters after the race, "Never in my life have I ever experienced anything as crazy as this. It was a beautiful experience."

That is another commonality the two very diverse men share.

Those who would like to contribute can go to www.linkschool.org or contact Paradiso at maria.paradiso@linkschool.org or 973-642-5343.