Wanting to expand South Brunswick High School’s rich tradition of community service, students and staff collaborated to create a fundraiser to assist a local nonprofit.
All proceeds from the Viking Cup for Philanthropy, a three-event competition involving more than 200 students and 50 staff members, will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which assists pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
The inaugural event generated more than $1,200 for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which since its inception in 2017 has immensely benefited from the support of several South Brunswick athletics programs, whose student-athletes and coaches have volunteered or participated in other fundraisers for the nonprofit.
“We’ve always been connected to the foundation,” said South Brunswick Athletics Director CJ Hendricks, the school’s former varsity baseball coach who started the tradition at the school of assisting the nonprofit. “Now we’re continuing to spread that awareness and the act of giving with all our athletic programs within the high school.”
At the start of the 2022-23 academic year, Hendricks and others within the athletic department, including recently graduated senior Jayna Lassiter and South Brunswick alumnus Danny Strickland, collaborated to create the Viking Cup for Philanthropy.
The student versus staff competitions included a basketball game, dodgeball tournament, and volleyball tournament.
The staff won two legs of the competition to claim this year’s Viking Cup for Philanthropy championship. Jim Gano, owner of Crown Trophy of Flemington, generously donated a beautiful trophy for Hendricks to annually present to the winning side.
Please click HERE to view a photo gallery from the Viking Cup volleyball tournament.
The large championship cup sits atop a solid wooden base with space for engraved annual results and a custom nameplate. The trophy will be prominently displayed in a case at the high school alongside South Brunswick’s team and individual state, sectional, conference, and county title awards.
“The beauty about being at South Brunswick is we already have such a great foundation of service throughout our school-community,” Hendricks said. “There’s plenty of organizations that do great work. A lot of our sports teams are involved in philanthropy. I think just trying to connect more on a global scale, in terms of getting our entire student body involved in conjunction with our athletic department is really just the goal. I want all our kids to contribute as much as they can so when they leave South Brunswick and they go to a university or they go out into the community, they have a sense of pride in what they’ve done and want to continue to pay those great gestures forward.”
Teachers from various departments and coaches from multiple sports joined student-athletes and other students from across the high school to participate in the Viking Cup for Philanthropy. Funds were raised through entry fees and ticket and concession sales for all three competitions.
“The mission is to provide financial support and awareness through community service with fun and collaborative school-based activities,” Hendricks said. “This was a great opportunity for our staff to get together with students outside the classroom and after the school bell rings. Getting the kids together to do fun stuff like this is super-important.”
In addition to having fun and raising funds, Hendricks noted the Viking Cup for Philanthropy is also designed to heighten awareness about work of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.
Please click HERE to view a photo gallery from the Viking Cup basketball game
Since its inception less than six years ago, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has made a profound impact, donating more than a quarter of a million dollars to fulfill its mission.
The nonprofit has also donated thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, winter jackets, baby supplies and other items upon which it has placed no monetary value.
In addition, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has awarded $29,500 in academic scholarships to 42 high school graduates, including former South Brunswick Meet of Champions track and field star Liz Matticoli.
Hendricks said South Brunswick School District Superintendent Scott Federer and South Brunswick High School Principal Peter Varela were in full support of the initiative.
Please click HERE to watch a video of the Viking Cup basketball game
Varela, Hendricks and Strickland joined South Brunswick student-athletes Nick Stenger and Jack Leach, both members of the varsity baseball team, to make a check presentation to The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s leadership, including Cyndi Tufaro, the nonprofit’s executive director, and Frank Noppenberger, a member of the foundation’s board of trustees who is also the Greater Middlesex Conference’s executive director.
The foundation’s namesake, Marisa Tufaro, was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries. A heart transplant, which was supposed to extend her life, tragically cut it short after a postoperative complication developed into a rare form of cancer to which Marisa succumbed in 2017 following a valiant battle. She was just 13 years old.
Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa was an Edison Township Public Schools’ honor roll student involved in myriad extracurricular activities who lived a vibrant life that inspired.