Last spring, Woodbridge High School’s Jason Bilawsky, one of the state’s best bowlers, broke both of his wrists while competing in a volleyball match.
The devastating injury made simple everyday tasks a challenge and sidelined the two-sport athlete from competition for three months, forcing him to miss the Junior Gold Bowling Championships in Detroit, an event at which Bilawsky was expected to have a chance to shine.
Photo courtesy of Scott Faytok
Bilawsky made his official return to the lanes last November in the season-opening Marisa Tufaro Classic, a tournament featuring a highly competitive field of teams from across the state that also serves as a holiday toy drive for pediatric patients and a fundraiser for our nonprofit.
Bilawsky rolled a 269 in his first game, which proved to be the third best score of the day, setting the stage to close out his senior year in impressive fashion.
Bilawsky went on to win the Woodbridge Holiday Classic and to lead his team to Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament and Red Division championships.
He concluded the season with his first official 300 game at the NJSIAA team finals, cementing for himself a place on the Star Ledger’s All-State team for the third time in his career with a second-team selection.
Bilawsky ended the 2019-20 campaign with a 218 average, which ranked second best in the conference, and a 799 series he bowled in January against South Brunswick proved to be the league’s best.
During his stellar four-year career, Bilawsky has helped Woodbridge claim four division titles, three sectional championships, two group titles, two league tournament crowns and a Tournament of Champions title.
The three-time All-Conference selection also placed among the Top 20 in the league individual tournament each of the past four seasons, reaching the prestigious stepladder finals once.
An outstanding student who is civic-minded, Bilawsky can now add being named a Marisa Tufaro Foundation Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship recipient to his resume.
One educator said Bilawsky is among “the most kind, generous and thoughtful young men I have met in all my years of teaching.” He also described Bilawsky as “intellectually curious, disciplined, industrious and dedicated.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Bilawsky was enrolled in multiple honors and advanced placement classes and is ranked among the Top 15 percent of his graduating class.
Bilawsky was recently honored as Woodbridge High School’s male Greater Middlesex Conference Scholar-Athlete recipient.
He captained Woodbridge’s Heroes and Cool Kids program, was a member of the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide and served on the Youth Advisory Council.
His community service includes assisting with the Fords Middle School baseball and bowling programs, and volunteering with the Muscular Dystrophy Association Bowl-A-Thon at the Woodbridge Bowling Center.
Bilawsky earned Woodbridge High School’s Good Citizenship Award for the month of November 2019.
“His family is just wonderful and he is so deserving of everything he gets,” Woodbridge High School bowling coach Amanda Small said of Bilawsky.
Small said Bilawsky’s performance and attitude on the lanes is a microcosm of the way he conducts himself inside and outside of the classroom.
“He’s really just an amazing kid,” she said. “You can have an honest sit-down conversation with him. He wants to know what he’s doing wrong every single shot, what he can do to better himself, what he can do for his team and what sacrifices he can make for his team.”
Small said keeping Bilawsky away from the lanes – even with two broken wrists – was a challenge last summer, noting he spent time at the bowling alley, watching others and learning. She was overcome with emotion when Bilawsky rolled a perfect game on the final day of his scholastic career.
“I had tears in my eyes,” Small said. “I knew his time was coming. I’ve watched him now from a little kid that never said two words to this young man who I can’t even describe.”
Bilawsky will continue his studies and bowling career at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Following are hot links to stories detailing the many ways our foundation has assisted pediatric patients and other children in need since its inception.
- As a way of giving back to the Greater Middlesex Conference, which has been among our nonprofit’s biggest supporters, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation jump-started the league’s fundraising effort to feed county families during the coronavirus pandemic with a $2,500 donation to the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Services.
- Provided funding for a part-time healthcare social worker to assist families of pediatric patients under the care of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics’ Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
- Donated more than $2,500 worth of ShopRite, Target and Walmart gift cards to dozens of Middlesex County families in need, helping parents purchase food, necessities and presents for their children this holiday season.
- Partnered with Woodbridge High School, the Central Jersey bowling community and the Port Reading Fire Department and EMS to deliver more than 1,000 toys to patients at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital this holiday season.
- Sponsored more than 80 South Brunswick High School student-athletes, who donated their time and youthful energy to participate in a charity kickball tournament benefiting an inspirational boy living with an incurable and terminal disease.
- Established a fund at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, from which Marisa received outstanding care for her entire life, to provide financial support to families of pediatric patients from Middlesex County in medical crisis by helping to pay medical, personal or incidental expenses.
- 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.
- Conducted a boardwalk-themed Family Fun Night for a second consecutive year at PSE&G 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 treat Special Olympics athletes from the Raritan Bay Area YMCA to a Somerset Patriots game experience.
- Partnered with the Saint Joseph High School football program and campus ministry to pack and donate more than 200 “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.
- Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital for a third consecutive year.
- 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.
- 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 six summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
- Provided college scholarship dollars to 10 high school students whose classroom performance and extracurricular involvement reflected Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors aligned with our foundation’s mission.
- 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.
- Assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses. Respecting their privacy, the foundation never divulges the names of those individuals or the dollar amount of assistance it provides.
- Paid forward the generosity Saint Thomas Aquinas 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.
- Partnered with the Edison and J.P. Stevens high school girls basketball teams to collect baby care items to donate to the Edison-based Ozanam Family Shelter.
- 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 insurance provider won’t cover certain medical expenses.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Partnered with Woodbridge High School and the Central Jersey bowling community to deliver hundreds of toys to patients at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, where Marisa underwent a successful heart transplant.
- Provided 7 summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
- Provided college scholarship dollars to 7 high school students whose classroom performance and extracurricular involvement reflected Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors aligned with our foundation’s mission.
- 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.
- Provided James Monroe Elementary School students with food items to fill a hundred “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families.
- Provided meals and goods for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Central Jersey.
- Partnered with Middlesex High School to conduct a coat drive for Middlesex County children.
- Provided gift cards for pediatric patients and their families.