The Marisa Tufaro Classic, a scholastic bowling tournament contested at the start of the 2025-26 campaign, was a resounding success.

In addition to collecting hundreds of toys for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation to donate during the holiday season, the event held last December at Majestic Lanes in Hopelawn raised nearly $3,000 for the nonprofit.

The wildly successful tournament, which former Woodbridge High School coach Amanda Small founded and has run for five years with support from her high school and school district, has generated more than $12,000 and thousands of toys for pediatric patients and children in need.

“We’ve been blessed beyond words with amazing support from Woodbridge High School and the entire bowling community,” said Cyndi Tufaro, the foundation’s executive director. “The impact the student-athletes and their coaches have collectively made is profound. We are eternally grateful to Coach Small for the time and energy she invests to ensure this event is a success. She and everyone involved should be immensely proud of what they have accomplished.”

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation distributed all the new and unwrapped toys collected during the bowling tournament to pediatric patients at Hackensack Meridian JFK University Medical Center and children in need who Hands of Hope for the Community serves.

Toys donated to Hands of Hope for the Community were distributed as holiday presents to Middlesex County children in need during a Dec. 20 event at Saint James Episcopal Church in Edison.

Toys donated to the medical center helped meet the needs of pediatric inpatients and visitors to the hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department, who can benefit at any time from a diversion to help cope with the anxiety and pain that can accompany treatments, medical procedures, and extended admissions.

Born with a complex cardiac defect, Marisa Tufaro lived with a medical condition that restricted her from some physical activity but never prevented her from bowling.

Marisa, who died in 2017 at the age of 13 from a rare form of cancer following six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant, enjoyed her time at Stelton Lanes in Piscataway and at Milford Lanes in Delaware during family vacations.

Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and attending hundreds of doctors’ appointments, Marisa was an Edison Township Public Schools honor roll student involved in myriad extracurricular activities.

She is the inspiration behind the Marisa Tufaro Classic, whose tournament format consisted of three traditional team games. The Woodbridge boys and Brick girls, who had the highest total pinfall in each division, were crowned tournament champions.

Awards for boys and girls were presented to the team champions and runners-up in each division, as well as to the three bowlers with the highest individual game and the three bowlers who rolled the highest series in each division. For the third straight year, Jim Gano of Crown Trophy in Flemington generously donated all the awards.

A Woodbridge High School alumna who was a member of her alma mater’s 2007 Tournament of Champions winning team, Small was also a Home News Tribune Bowler of the Year.

“Amanda wanted to offer another option for a holiday tournament to kick off the year, and she came up with the idea to host one in Woodbridge Township to benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation,” Woodbridge High School Athletics Director Joe Ward said. “We were 100 percent on board when she brought the idea to us. Amanda is hard-working and dedicated to the sport of bowling. She’s always looking to assist the school and the community in any way she can, and I think this is a great example of that.”

Established in its namesake’s loving memory in 2017, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated nearly $450,000 to fulfill its mission of assisting pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.

The nonprofit has also spearheaded multiple initiatives resulting in the collection of thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, winter coats, baby supplies, school supplies, children’s books, and other items for donation upon which it has placed no monetary value.

In addition, the foundation has awarded 50 scholarships totaling $36,500 to high school seniors and sent 31 elementary and middle school students to a weeklong summer art camp at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Museum.

The Marisa Tufaro Foundation is eternally grateful for the support it has received from Woodbridge High School, which has also hosted Greater Middlesex Conference-wide charity all-star football and basketball games, the Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro, and a Pictures with Santa event as fundraisers.

In addition, the high school has donated money raised during a dress down day and at three of the football team’s home openers to the nonprofit. Countless student-athletes from multiple sports have participated in other fundraising events and drives that benefited The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.

“Our nonprofit doesn’t take a second donated or a penny raised for granted,” Cyndi Tufaro said. “The kindness and generosity of the entire Woodbridge school community has been extraordinary.

“We hope their benevolence is exponentially returned.”