Keturah Pyle inherited the role of Student Nurses Association president from predecessor Heather Zayas, who made a five-hour round-trip from Harrisburg to join The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s team of walkers and runners in Saturday’s Race to Outrun Hunger.

Pyle and Zayas were among nearly three dozen representatives from the Chamberlain University College of Nursing’s North Brunswick campus who partnered with our nonprofit for the second straight year to collect nonperishable food items and raise money for the Hands of Hope Food Pantry, which is the Race to Outrun Hunger’s beneficiary.

“They were absolutely tremendous,” Jackie Goedesky, president and founder of Hands of Hope said of the Chamberlain students and professors who participated in last weekend’s event, adding that Zayas’ commitment was particularly impressive.

“It’s touching to our hearts that someone would drive five hours to come for a race that’s going to help feed the hungry and help children to have good Thanksgiving and Christmas (meals). Everyone that was there Saturday cared enough to give their best.”

Committed to providing an efficient and centralized system for distributing food to alleviate hunger in the Middlesex County area, the food pantry provided more than 9,400 meals to families last year.

A generous benefactor covered in full the Race to Outrun Hunger entry fees for all of the nursing students.

The event, which race director Stephen Dennis organized for a fifth consecutive year, raised more than $12,000 for the food pantry including a donation from The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, whose mission of helping Middlesex County children in need coincides with that of the Hands of Hope Food Pantry.

“She surprised me,” Pyle said of Zayas, a 2018 graduate of the nursing school, making the trip to Edison’s Roosevelt Park to take part in the Race to Outrun Hunger. “That says a lot about her. She really wanted to be a part of it. I was really excited that she actually came. It’s amazing that she came all the way from Pennsylvania. Even though she’s not on campus, she still wanted to be part of the organization.”

In addition to organizing Chamberlain’s participation in the Race to Outrun Hunger last year, Zayas also spearheaded a separate fundraiser for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.

Zayas passed the baton of Student Nurses Association leadership to Pyle, who said she and her college classmates and professors engage in service projects because they want to help others and give back to the community.

Pyle said she and her classmates were also struck by Marisa’s story. Born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries, Marisa lived a vibrant life that inspired. Despite being hospitalized for more than two years in total and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa was an honor roll student and was involved in multiple extracurricular activities.

A heart transplant, performed to extend Marisa’s life, tragically cut it short after a post-operative complication developed into a rare form of cancer. After radiation and chemotherapy treatments failed to thwart the relentless onslaught of an aggressive disease that riddled her brain and body, Marisa succumbed to her illness last year. She was 13 years old.

One of Pyle’s professors, Candice Smith, was among the amazing Cardiac Intensive Care Unit nurses from New York Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital who cared for Marisa following her heart transplant.

Smith and Dr. Joseph Gaffney, chief of pediatric cardiology at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, who cared for Marisa Tufaro her entire life, joined our nonprofit’s team for the Race to Outrun Hunger.

The nurses from New York Presbyterian worked relentlessly around the clock for Marisa, who was hospitalized for 161 of her final 214 days. The staff became Marisa’s second family. The compassion and expertise of the nurses, many of who attended Marisa’s wake and funeral, left an indelible impression on the Tufaros, who hold the New York Presbyterian staff in the highest regard.

All of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s participants received a free specially designed commemorative T-shirt, courtesy of Bell Pharmacy in Edison, which sponsored the foundation’s team.

Marisa required multiple medications daily since birth, and after her heart transplant was taking more than two dozen different prescriptions daily. The pharmacists at Bell Pharmacy were beyond accommodating in fulfilling Marisa’s needs, and were an integral part of Marisa’s healthcare throughout her life.

Jessica Stakofsky, one of the Chamberlain nurses who participated in the Race to Outrun Hunger, medaled in the event.