The Marisa Tufaro Foundation invites students and staff from Edison High School to once again join our nonprofit to participate in the fifth annual Race to Outrun Hunger.
A generous benefactor will be covering the registration fee for the first 75 students and staffers from the high school who wish to participate in the event.
Students and staff who partake in the Race to Outrun Hunger will receive a complimentary Marisa Tufaro Foundation T-shirt. We respectfully ask all participants to wear the T-shirt at the event.
WHEN: Saturday, October 13th at 9 a.m.
WHERE: Roosevelt Park, 151 Parsonage Road, Edison, New Jersey, 08837.
WHAT: A 5K, which participants can WALK or RUN, conducted on a U.S. Track and Field certified course, featuring slight rolling hills in a scenic 217-acre park.
WHY: The event benefits Hands of Hope, an Edison-based nonprofit and community partner of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation that is committed to providing an efficient and centralized system for distributing food to alleviate hunger in the Middlesex County area. The event also fulfills our foundation’s community service mission and provides a wonderful opportunity for supporters of our nonprofit to convene and celebrate Marisa’s life – the way she would want – by helping others.
WHO: Members of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s team of racers and walkers are asked to convene anytime between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. under a tent adjacent to the Lakeview School – located across from the lake at Roosevelt Park – where they will receive their T-shirt and 5K instructions.
DID YOU KNOW: This year, Marisa would have been a sophomore at Edison High School, from which her mother graduated in 1988.
HOW TO REGISTER: Please complete THIS SIMPLE FORM before October 1st, 2018.
EDISON HIGH SCHOOL MADE 2017 RACE TO OUTRUN HUNGER A SUCCESS
Students and staff from Edison High School were among the approximately 130 people who joined The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s team of runners and walkers in the fourth annual Race to Outrun Hunger at Roosevelt Park last October.
The 5K benefits Hands of Hope, an Edison-based nonprofit committed to providing an efficient and centralized system for distributing food to alleviate hunger in the Middlesex County area. Hands of Hope provided more than 9,400 bags of food to families last year.
Race director Stephen Dennis said Edison High School’s involvement in the event helped make the 2017 Race to Outrun Hunger “the most successful we’ve had in terms of number of participants and awareness in the community.”
The Edison High School contingent included members of the football and baseball teams, all of who, in addition to participating in the Race to Outrun Hunger, collected nonperishable food items to donate to Hands of Hope.
A tax-exempt nonprofit, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation was established in loving memory of Marisa Tufaro, the 13-year-old daughter of Edison residents Greg and Cyndi Tufaro, who died last year.
This year, Marisa would have been a sophomore at Edison High School, from which her mother graduated in 1988.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation honored recent Edison High School graduate Ciara Johnson as the recipient of the first annual Marisa Tufaro Memorial Edison High School Scholarship. Johnson was presented with the $1,000 scholarship three months ago during the high school’s Senior Awards ceremony.
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.
Marisa and Cyndi Tufaro
A heart transplant, performed to extend Marisa’s life, tragically cut it short after a postoperative 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 in January 2017 following a valiant battle.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which assists children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area, is a fitting way to honor Marisa and keep alive her spirit. It allows Greg and Cyndi to give back to the residents of a community that has forever provided their family with overwhelming support.
As a student, Marisa joined her classmates, as well as the faculty and staff at James Monroe Elementary School, in collecting nonperishable food items to donate to Hands of Hope, whose mission of helping children in need and their families coincides with that of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation. Several of Marisa’s former teachers walked with the foundation’s team last year.
“The money raised from The Race to Outrun Hunger enables us to purchase the extra food that families can no longer afford to buy for themselves,” Jackie Goedesky, president and founder of Hands of Hope, previously told the Home News Tribune. “We have many success stories. People receive food to carry them through bad times and then when they are back on their feet they come to ‘pay it forward’ by donating to our food pantry and, at times, to volunteer. Our donors are able to visually see where their money goes and they often comment that they are always shocked by the long lines of people on the days we are open and it encourages them to continue to donate to us.”
The Race to Outrun Hunger is conducted on a U.S. Track and Field certified course, featuring slight rolling hills in a beautiful 217-acre park.
Several members of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s team claimed first-place medals at last year’s event including Edison High School assistant football coach Matt McGuigan, who won his men’s age group.
The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Edison Township Council, Edison P.B.A., Edison Senior Firefighters, Edison Public Schools, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA and others support Hands of Hope.