Thousands of people came to Turtle Back Zoo Sunday to help raise money for the American Heart Association.

This year's northern New Jersey walk was held at the zoo and focused on bringing awareness and raising money to heart disease and strokes.

The event reached its goal of raising more the $500,000 this year for research.

“Events such as this, raises awareness for these things, as well as raises dollars for the research to advance the science of healthy hearts." says Stephen Zieniewicz, President and CEO of St. Barnabas Medical Center.