Our nonprofit partners with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to treat Special Olympics athletes to a Somerset Patriots game

Our nonprofit partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to sponsor an all-expenses paid trip to the ballpark for the Perth Amboy Piranhas Special Olympics Swim Team athletes and their families, who received first-class treatment from the Somerset Patriots during a June 30th home game.

The Somerset Patriots put together a wonderful package for the Piranhas, who are based out of the Raritan Bay Area YMCA, and their families.

All guests of The Teamwork Unlimited Foundation and The Marisa Tufaro Foundation received tickets to the game against the Long Island Ducks, a commemorative T-shirt, and were treated to an all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet.

Several of the Special Olympics athletes, like The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s namesake, who saw her first baseball game at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, were similarly be exposed to our National Pastime for the first time.

All Special Olympics athletes and their siblings received a Somerset Patriots baseball cap, a Somerset Patriots baseball, met the Somerset Patriots players during a pregame autograph session, and ran the bases after the game.

One member of the Raritan Bay Area YMCA’s contingent threw out a ceremonial first pitch, and the group of Special Olympics athletes were honored with a special message announcing their presence at TD Bank Ballpark during the game.

The menu for the Special Olympics athletes and their families included hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork, veggie burgers, cole slaw, macaroni and cheese, potato chips, cookies and fountain drinks.

The Raritan Bay Area YMCA’s contingent sat together in the stadium’s Ballpark BBQ section, which runs parallel to the left-field line with a wonderful vantage point of the game’s action.

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, whose mission is to help children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area, benefited from the benevolence and support of the Raritan Bay Area YMCA six months ago when it hosted a swim-a-thon that raised more than $10,000 for the nonprofit.

The trip to the ballpark afforded the foundation an opportunity to give back to the Raritan Bay Area YMCA, which donated its facilities and staff for the swim-a-thon. The swim-a-thon featured more than 300 Greater Middlesex Conference high school student-athletes.

The Raritan Bay Area YMCA is home of the Perth Amboy Piranhas Special Olympics Swim Team and the Tsunami Swim Team. The swim teams meet for practice every week at the Y to learn new strokes and techniques, while gaining strength, confidence and making some great friends along the way. As part of the Y’s Social Responsibility, they give back by providing support to their neighbors.

The mission of the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation, which Edison residents Mike and Trisha Garlatti founded, is to celebrate differences and encourage socialization with people of all abilities while increasing awareness, understanding and promoting acceptance.

“People with challenges in communication, socialization or mobility may be different, but not less,” reads the mission statement on Teamwork Unlimited Foundation’s website. “Helping others with their challenges takes teamwork, which is a goal of Teamwork Unlimited Foundation.”

Cyndi and Greg Tufaro established The Marisa Tufaro Foundation in loving memory of their daughter, Marisa, who died at the age of 13 on Jan. 30, 2017 after complications from a heart transplant developed into a rare form of cancer, to which she succumbed following a valiant fight.

Marisa was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries. Despite keeping hundreds of doctor’s appointments and being hospitalized for more than two years, Marisa lived a vibrant life that inspired.

The Tufaros and Garlattis have a longstanding friendship that predates the founding of their respective tax-exempt nonprofits.

Sponsoring a trip to the ballpark is the second community initiative on which the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation and The Marisa Tufaro Foundation have collaborated.

Last year, the nonprofits partnered to provide medical alert bracelets to children with autism and pediatric patients with chronic illness who receive outstanding care from Children’s Specialized Hospital, which annually serves more than 34,000 children statewide.

Teamwork Unlimited Foundation made a generous donation to The Marisa Tufaro Foundation two years ago on behalf of players who hit home runs in any of the 20 games contested during the three-day Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge, an annual event that the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation organizes and conducts.

The event, which Mike Garlatti, a professional scout for the Colorado Rockies, founded more than a decade ago, features 40 high school teams from across New Jersey. Most of the competing schools are from Middlesex County, but some come from as far north as Sussex County and as far south as Atlantic County.

About the Y:

The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Across the U.S., 2,700 Ys engage 22 million men, women and children – regardless of age, income or background – to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the nation’s health and well-being, and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. Anchored in more than 10,000 communities, the Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. rbaymca.org

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, established less than two years ago, has already made a profound impact, donating more than $75,000 to help pediatric patients and other children in need.

Following are some of the ways in which our nonprofit has assisted others (please click on links to read about any of the topics below that may pique your interest):

• Partnered with the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators to offer financial relief to parents of children in medical crisis who lost wages while caring for their child at the hospital, who lack health insurance or whose provider won’t cover certain medical expenses.
• Partnered with Woodbridge High School and the Central Jersey bowling community to deliver hundreds of toys to pediatric patients at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, where Marisa underwent a successful heart transplant.
• Donated to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s newly established extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program, a specialized cardiac and respiratory support system that saved Marisa’s life at another medical facility following her heart transplant.
• Made a donation in honor of Piscataway’s Conackamack Middle School, which honored Marisa during its 27th annual Turkey Trot, to the township’s FISH Hospitality Program, which provides shelter, meals, clothing and other services to homeless families in Middlesex County.
• Paid forward the generosity Bishop Ahr High School has bestowed upon our foundation with a donation to the school-community’s 21st annual Ahr Star spaghetti dinner, whose beneficiaries included a 9-year-old boy from Middlesex County with multiple disabilities.
• Funded the purchase of uniforms (shirts and shorts) for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.
• Partnered with Old Bridge and South Brunswick high schools to collect thousands of toys for pediatric patients at Saint Peter’s University Children’s Hospital and Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
• Partnered with the Kittim N. Sherrod Foundation to provide a youth football and cheerleading organization with a bilingual state-of-the art automated external defibrillator, as well as AED and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for adult members of the organization.
• Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, to which our foundation also provided funds for infant mobiles and toy cars staff use to transport children to the operating room for surgery.
• Provided money for equipment and supplies for students with disabilities who utilize the Lakeview School’s newly constructed aquatics center.
• Conducted a boardwalk-themed Family Fun Night at Children’s Specialized Hospital, where the sights, sounds and smells of the Jersey Shore were brought to patients and their families through carnival games, food, prizes, music and more.
• Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to provide medical alert bracelets to children with autism and pediatric patients with chronic illness who receive outstanding care from Children’s Specialized Hospital, which annually serves more than 34,000 children statewide.
• Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County boy who is winning a battle with high-risk neuroblastoma to vacation with his family at Walt Disney World.
• Funded the purchase of brand-new metal bunk beds for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.
• Provided physical therapy at Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center and Project Walk for Middlesex County children whose families do not have health insurance or whose families’ health insurer does not cover the cost of the physical therapy.
• Partnered with Edison High School and the Chamberlain College of Nursing for two consecutive years to raise money and collect nonperishable food items to benefit Middlesex County children and their families through Hands of Hope via our foundation’s participation in the Race to Outrun Hunger.
• Provided new iPads and gaming system accessories (Xbox and PS4 games, controllers, chargers) for adolescent patients at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
• Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County girl who was born with a complex cardiac defect to vacation with her family at Walt Disney World.
• Provided a total of 13 summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
• Rewarded high school students for their community service to children with scholarships.
• Provided meals and goods for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Central Jersey.
• Provided a total of 14 scholarships to Greater Middlesex Conference student-athletes whose academic performance and extracurricular involvement reflects Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors align with our foundation’s mission.
• Partnered with Middlesex High School to conduct a coat drive for Middlesex County children.
• Provided gift cards for pediatric patients and their families.
• Sponsored a Middlesex County elementary school’s field trip to Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center in Monroe, where students from self-contained autistic classes were afforded the opportunity to interact with horses and baby goats.
• As a way of giving back to the Rutgers University baseball program, whose roster features several players that have supported our nonprofit, our foundation matched the Scarlet Knights’ fundraising efforts with a donation to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s child life program.
• Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to treat Special Olympics athletes from the Raritan Bay Area YMCA to a Somerset Patriots game experience.