Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Kim Hynes of Liberty and her son, Matthew Hynes, 16, join hundreds of others to travel the perimeter of Eastwood Field in Niles for Saturday’s fourth annual Ability Walk & Roll event to highlight and celebrate the achievements of those with special needs and challenges.

NILES — Perhaps Matthew Hynes derives his greatest pleasures simply from being surrounded with family and baseball, though basking in the glow of a certain level of popularity surely doesn’t hurt anything.

“He knows somebody everywhere he goes. He has a positive effect on people, and people have learned a lot from him,” Kim Hynes of Liberty said about her son, Matthew, 16, who was diagnosed with certain neurological conditions, but doesn’t allow that to curtail his ability to touch others.

Matthew had that quality on full display — which included his desire to cut the first syllable off the word “disability” — as he and his mother joined many others for the fourth annual Ability Walk & Roll fundraiser gathering Saturday afternoon at Eastwood Field.

More than 1,100 registered guests and in excess of 500 volunteers filled the stadium before Saturday evening’s Mahoning Valley Scrappers game for a festive, fun-filled and family-oriented walk around the field.

The primary goal was to highlight the fact that communities are better off and able to further thrive when people with developmental challenges are included and supported, organizers said.

In addition, the event generated about $70,000, which far exceeded the original $60,000 goal, Stephanie Champlin, the Ability to Unite Foundation of the Mahoning Valley’s executive director, noted.

The organization formerly was the Fairhaven Foundation.

Money from the event, which is the foundation’s largest fundraiser, will go toward helping clients on an as-needed basis, along with buying items such as adaptive equipment and clothing, Champlin said, adding that the foundation has expanded to also include Mahoning and Columbiana counties. None of the funds will be used for administrative costs, she continued.

For Kim Hynes, the walk’s value also lies in the fact that “this is for everybody to celebrate all abilities,” said Hynes, who described Matthew as easygoing and friendly, as well as someone who loves occasions such as Sunday’s event. In addition, he attends Fairhaven School and is part of Special Olympics, she said.

When it came to showing support, many volunteers such as Suzanne Harding of Salem weren’t a bit shy about opening their hearts, shouting words of encouragement and holding signs to cheer on the walkers as they passed.

“We volunteer and try to make the community a better place,” Harding, a Salem High School health and physical education teacher, said as she held a green-painted sign with large orange letters that read, “You are amazing.”

She also was referring to her school’s Interact Club, of which about eight students served various volunteer roles at Saturday’s Ability Walk & Roll. An additional 10 students performed in the marching band, she said, adding that club members also have assisted with building a Habitat for Humanity home and participating in citywide cleanups.

Harding, who also has taught in the Youngstown and Canton school districts, said she hopes the greatest takeaway for her students will be to have them realize and appreciate the importance of inclusion, and to make those who have challenges feel celebrated.

Others who played a key role in the celebration department were the Mahoning Valley Scrappers players, who cheered on and high-fived many of the walkers. Also doing the same were members of the West Virginia Black Bears, who beat the Scrappers 11-3 Saturday.

For many of the volunteers, the heartbeat of an effort to spread cheer was having them serve as “super fans,” to further uplift the walkers and their family members, display additional encouragement and exhibit “positive excitement and have (walkers and their supporters) feel super special on a day built for them,” Champlin said.

Society has come a long way in accepting and celebrating those who have a variety of challenges, largely by focusing much more on their abilities, she noted.

Also, events such as the Ability Walk & Roll leave an indelible imprint on places in which they occur. For example, Eastwood Field is equipped with Scrappy’s Safe Haven, a sensory, soundproof room with soothing light and a tranquil space designed to calm and comfort those who may be overwhelmed by too much stimulation from the sights and sounds of a baseball game, Champlin explained.

Inside Eastwood Field on Saturday were numerous resource tables with representatives from agencies that included the Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana County boards of Developmental Disabilities, the Rich Center for the Study and Treatment of Autism, Help Me Grow, the Autism Society of the Mahoning Valley, Potential Development School, Trumbull County Probate Court and the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library.

Several of the musical selections also neatly fitted into the event’s overarching theme. They included the popular 1979 Sister Sledge hit “We are Family,” along with the famous Kool & the Gang song “Celebrate” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” the 1967 inspirational piece by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell.