Unable to sponsor its annual bowling tournament and toy drive to benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation due to the pandemic, Woodbridge High School creatively devised another way to assist the nonprofit while simultaneously spreading holiday cheer.

The high school recently hosted a socially distant Pictures with Santa fundraiser, with all contributions enabling The Marisa Tufaro Foundation to continue its annual tradition of assisting pediatric patients and underserved children during the holiday season.

A contingent of students, staff and recent alumni from Woodbridge Township Public Schools were among those who volunteered at the event.

With The Marisa Tufaro Foundation matching the monetary donations and gift cards Woodbridge High School collected, a total of $1,000 plus an additional total of nearly $800 in gift cards will help the nonprofit fulfill its mission.

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation will present a check and some of the gift cards to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital (BMSCH) at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick – in support of the hospital’s virtual toy drive – and will share the remaining gift cards with Middlesex County families in need.

The contributions will enable BMSCH to purchase age and developmentally appropriate toys and games for its patients. Those items will be available for distribution, not only during the holiday season, but throughout next year, to meet the needs of patients, all of who can benefit at any time from a diversion to help cope with the stress and pain that can accompany treatments, medical procedures and extended admissions.

Visitors to the Woodbridge campus between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday had an opportunity to have their picture taken with Santa, who was stationed in front of the high school building’s main entrance behind a plexiglass partition.

Volunteers who assisted at the event included Woodbridge High School Principal Glenn Lottmann, along with his wife, Devon, a paraprofessional in the district, and their children Dylan, Camryn and Kayden; Woodbridge Township Public Schools Transportation Supervisor Mark Cinelli, along with his wife Sandy, a kindergarten teacher in the district, and their children Jordan, Matt and CJ; Woodbridge High School students Taylor Pezulich, Kaitlyn Haak, Brody Kist and Braiden Kist; Woodbridge High School Athletics Director Joe Ward; Ali and Madison Sagers; and Stanley Gadomski.

Pictures with Santa was held in lieu of the Marisa Tufaro Classic, a season-opening bowling tournament featuring more than 60 boys and girls high school teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference and elsewhere across the state, which Woodbridge sponsored and hosted since 2018.

The coronavirus pandemic canceled this year’s event.

The tournament has raised more than $6,500 for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation and also served as a holiday toy drive, through which thousands of toys were collected and delivered each of the past two years to BMSCH, where Marisa received outstanding care throughout her entire life, and Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, where Marisa spent 161 of her final days including her last holiday season.

Woodbridge bowling coach Amanda Small, who founded the Marisa Tufaro Classic, and Woodbridge athletics director Joe Ward joined The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s leadership in delivering the toys to the children’s hospitals each of the past two years.

First responders from the Port Reading Fire Department and EMS helped transport the holiday cheer last year with two ambulances full of toys for pediatric patients. The first responders also collected presents during their 2019 Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration, conducted at the firehouse to augment donations the bowling tournament generated.

Cyndi Tufaro, a longtime Edison Township Public Schools educator, and her husband, Greg, a sportswriter for the Home News Tribune, established The Marisa Tufaro Foundation in loving memory of their beautiful daughter, who died three years ago at the age of 13.

Marisa, who would have been a senior this year at Edison High School, was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries. Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa lived a vibrant life that inspired. After her sixth surgery, Marisa developed two life-threatening conditions that necessitated a heart transplant. A postoperative complication developed into a rare form of cancer, known as post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, that riddled her brain and body. Marisa succumbed to her illness following a valiant battle.

Since its inception just over three years ago, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated more than $175,000 to assist pediatric patients and underserved children.

The nonprofit also has donated thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, baby supplies, winter coats and other items upon which it has placed no monetary value.

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation is eternally grateful for the support it has received from Woodbridge High School, which has hosted the Greater Middlesex Conference All-Star basketball doubleheader, the Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro and sponsored the Marisa Tufaro Classic bowling tournament as fundraisers.

In addition, the school community has donated money raised from a dress down day and donations collected at the gate from its football team’s 2018 and 2019 home openers to the nonprofit.

Countless student-athletes from multiple sports have participated in other events that benefitted The Marisa Tufaro Foundation. Donations from administrators, faculty, staff, and parents have enabled the nonprofit to fulfill its mission of helping Middlesex County children in need.

Woodbridge also fully funds in Marisa’s memory a Marisa Tufaro Memorial Scholarship, presented annually to two exceptional college-bound seniors from the high school who strive for excellence academically, athletically or in the arts, who overcame adversity (not limited to medical challenges) and who epitomize the caring spirit that Marisa’s family believes makes the Woodbridge school-community special.

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation would like to extend its sincere appreciation and deepest gratitude to Woodbridge Public Schools Superintendent Robert Zega, Woodbridge High School Principal Glenn Lottmann and the Woodbridge Public Schools Board of Education for its support.

The entire school-community has played an enormous and vital role in the foundation’s outreach.