Tufaro Foundation sponsors Special Strides field trip for self-contained autistic classes

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation 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.

Under the constant supervision of certified physical and occupational therapists, who remained by the side of the students at all times, the children rode, groomed and fed the horses. They also were able to pet and feed baby goats that were just two weeks old.

Special Strides relies upon nearly two dozen specially trained therapy horses to provide equine-assisted activities and therapy for individuals with special needs.

Prior to receiving her heart transplant, Marisa was on home instruction, living with two life-threatening medical conditions that steroids and other medications were managing. Side effects of those drugs diminished her strength and physical stamina. She worked with physical therapists in a traditional setting prior to receiving hippotherapy at Special Strides.

Marisa immediately bonded with the staff and formed a special relationship with several of the horses including one named Johnny and two other ponies named Romeo and Juliet. Hippotherapy increased Marisa’s stamina and strength. Equally important, Marisa’s experience at Special Strides boosted her morale and self-esteem. Marisa spoke frequently to doctors and nurses about her experience with the horses during her hospitalizations, which helped to provide a diversion during medical procedures.

“The relationship between Marisa and Johnny amazed me,” one of the physical therapists at the riding center wrote to Marisa’s parents shortly after Marisa’s passing about a horse Marisa met. “He saw something special in Marisa and responded to her with a gentleness and love.”

Since its inception in July 2017, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has supported Special Strides.

In addition to making a donation last July for a second straight year that provided a child with one month of hippotherapy, our nonprofit has also sponsored a horse with which Marisa worked at the therapeutic riding center.

Caring for a horse or pony at Special Strides is costly. Through sponsorship, Special Strides receives the necessary funds to support the yearly cost of his or her care including feed, shavings, hoofcare, veterinary care and tack.

Through its sponsorship of a horse, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation helps Special Strides fulfill its mission, which is to enhance the quality of life for people with a variety of special needs through equine assisted activities and therapies.

Special Strides’ executive directors selected the two children who received hippotherapy through our nonprofit’s donation from a pool of candidates meeting specific criteria at our foundation’s request. Both children were Middlesex County residents whose families did not have health insurance or whose families’ health insurer would not cover the cost of hippotherapy.

“Having a child with a challenge often places a financial burden on a family,” Special Strides states on its website. “Too often, therapy is not covered by insurance. Therefore, it is the goal of Special Strides to help provide all children an opportunity to experience our magic regardless of their financial status.”

Hippotherapy, according to the American Hippotherapy Association, “Refers to how occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology professionals use evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning in the purposeful manipulation of equine movement to engage sensory, neuromotor and cognitive systems to achieve functional outcomes. In conjunction with the affordances of the equine environment and other treatment strategies, hippotherapy is part of a patient’s integrated plan of care.”

According to an article about Special Strides in The Star Ledger of Newark, “Hippotherapy can help those with autism spectrum disorders, sensory processing disorder, hypotonia, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. And it can be used with children who have developmental delays and who need encouragement to catch up with their peers. More than half of Special Strides’ clients receive occupational or physical therapy, or equine-facilitated psychotherapy. The remainder participate in educational and recreational programs, such as carriage driving or adaptive riding, during which a certified therapeutic riding instructor helps an individual with special needs to learn how to ride a horse. Many clients who discover hippotherapy have already been through traditional physical rehabilitation for years.”

Located in Monroe at Congress Hill Farm, Special Strides is an all equestrian training center with 200 acres of outdoor and indoor training areas and wooded trails, which include a variety of sensory equipment such as trampolines, swings, an adventure course with balance beams and playground equipment.

Individuals can explore the farm during therapy and witness the changes of seasons, picking vegetables in the gardens and visiting other farm animals such as a rabbit, cats, goats, sheep, chickens and alpaca.

Following are hot links to stories detailing the many ways our foundation has assisted pediatric patients and other children in need since its inception on July 30, 2017.

• 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 and 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 (press release pending).
• Provided 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 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.