The Marisa Tufaro Foundation is honored to announce it has partnered with the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators (MCASA) to privately identify children in medical crisis whose families are eligible to receive financial support from our tax-exempt nonprofit.

Our foundation never publicly identifies any families we assist, nor do we ever publicly divulge the dollar amount of assistance we provide a family.

The goal is to lessen the burden of parents who have lost wages while spending time at the hospital to care for their child and to assist families who lack health insurance or whose provider will not cover certain medical expenses.

Thanks to the the benevolence of others, our foundation has already been able to provide financial assistance to multiple families including those whose children are battling cancer, severe cardiac conditions and/or require extensive physical therapy.

Through this newly formed partnership with the MCASA, which represents 25 school districts dedicated to the children of Middlesex County, our foundation will be able to help alleviate medical and/or personal expenses of parents or court-appointed legal guardians as they care for a child who is enduring an extended hospitalization or navigating a critical illness.

Schools superintendents aware of such children in their districts are now able to email our foundation – without ever revealing the name of a family – to request a concise and user-friendly application that can be forwarded to the parents or guardians of children in need (MCASA members approved and helped craft the aforementioned document).

Should the parents or court-appointed legal guardians wish to receive financial support from our nonprofit, they can simply return the completed application to our foundation via email or traditional mail to receive that assistance.

Due to our tax-exempt nonprofit’s structure, we do not write a check directly to the family. However, we do write checks to a hospital, physician, pharmacy, bank, utility company, etc., to help defray medical expenses such as pharmaceutical bills and physical therapy or personal expenses such as rent/mortgage payments and electric bills.

The MCASA is a branch of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA), a unifying professional association of school leaders whose mission is to ensure a superior statewide system of education by influencing and effecting educational policy, regulations and legislation, and by maximizing the capacity and effectiveness of school leaders through professional development programs and support services.

Members of the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators are President Scott Taylor (Highland Park), Past President Linda Madison (Middlesex), Treasurer Stephanie Brown (Milltown), Secretary Brian Betze (Jamesburg), NJASA Executive Committee Representative Brian Zychowski (North Brunswick), Vincent Caputo (Metuchen), David Cittadino (Old Bridge), Jorge Diaz (South Amboy), Rosa Diaz (Carteret), Scott Feder (South Brunswick), Mark Finkelstein (Education Services Commission of New Jersey), Susan Genco (Cranbury), Robert Goodall (Monroe), Aubrey Johnson (New Brunswick), Vanessa Jones (Greater Brunswick Charter School), Richard Labbe (Sayreville), Noreen Lishak (South Plainfield), Gene Mosley (Dunellen), Graham Peabody (Spotswood), Teresa Rafferty (Piscataway), David Roman (Perth Amboy), Sylvia Zircher (South River), Victor Valeski (East Brunswick), Dianne Veilleux (Middlesex County Vocational-Technical) and Robert Zega (Woodbridge).

Earlier this year, Marisa’s father, Greg was privileged to deliver the keynote address at the 33rd annual Middlesex County Student Recognition Program, where the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators and the Middlesex County School Boards Association honored 68 high school juniors and seniors as unsung heroes during a heartfelt awards program.

A complete list of honorees and a transcript of Greg’s speech can be found here.