The Marisa Tufaro Foundation would like to extend its sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to Mayor Brian C. Wahler and the entire Piscataway Township Council for honoring recent Piscataway High School graduates Emma Broggi and Gabe Rodrigues, who were recipients of our nonprofit’s Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship award.
Emma, who will attend Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, and Gabe, who is headed to New York University, each received a proclamation from Mayor Wahler during the township council meeting on Tuesday night.
Readers can find an in-depth feature story on Emma HERE and an in-depth feature story on Gabe HERE.
Both received scholarships for their performance in the classroom, in the athletic arena and for their extensive community service.
Piscataway High School student-athletes in a multitude of sports including basketball, baseball, football, wrestling, swimming, bowling and others have supported our tax-exempt nonprofit, which has donated more than $100,000 since its inception two years ago to assist pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which makes community service an integral part of its mission, has also spearheaded multiple community initiatives, resulting in the collection of thousands of toys, nonperishable food, winter coats, baby supplies and other items for donation upon which our nonprofit has placed no monetary value.
As part of its 27th annual Turkey Trot, a one-mile fun run and walk conducted the day before Thanksgiving on school grounds last November, Conackamack Middle School in Piscataway collected more than 1,300 nonperishable food items for donation to the township’s FISH Hospitality Program (FHP) in honor of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which paid forward the school-community’s kindness by making a cash donation to FISH in the name of Conackamack Middle School.
Our nonprofit has awarded 17 college academic scholarships to high school seniors and an additional 13 scholarships for middle school and elementary school students to attend a weeklong summer art camp at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum.
Gabe Rodrigues’ younger sister, Giselle, a student at Piscataway’s Knollwood Elementary School, was one of our nonprofit’s summer art camp scholarship recipients.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has benefited from dozens of fundraisers, some of which have become annual events, ranging in size from tiny lemonade stands on suburban streets to Greater Middlesex Conference-wide high school all-star games and tournaments in which student-athletes from across the entire league, including Piscataway, have participated.
Our foundation, which is committed to being a source of comfort to hospitalized children and their families, as well as providing assistance to underserved children, has partnered with other local nonprofits who share its mission.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses to help lessen the burden of parents who have lost wages while spending time at the hospital.
The foundation’s eight-member board of trustees features Senator Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. and Dr. Joseph Gaffney, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief, Pediatric Cardiology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
The foundation, which has been featured in numerous publications, including the print edition of the Boston Globe and online at USA TODAY, is a fitting way to keep alive its namesake’s indomitable spirit and to allow her legacy to be one of helping others.
Marisa Tufaro, who would have been a junior this upcoming academic year at Edison High School, was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries.
Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa lived a vibrant life that inspired.
After her sixth surgery, Marisa developed two life-threatening conditions that necessitated a heart transplant. A postoperative complication developed into a rare form of cancer that riddled her brain and body.
Marisa succumbed to her illness following a valiant battle on Jan. 30, 2017. She was just 13 years old.
Marisa is the daughter of longtime Edison Township Public School educator Cyndi Tufaro and Greg Tufaro, a sports writer for USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey, the Home News Tribune, the Courier News and MyCentralJersey.com.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital featured the foundation in the Spring 2019 edition of its Healthy Together magazine, while Children’s Specialized Hospital profiled the nonprofit in its most recent annual report, released last month. News 12 New Jersey’s Della Crews featured The Marisa Tufaro Foundation on one of her weekly Spotlight New Jersey broadcasts.
Marisa received outstanding care from the staff and physicians at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital and from some of the outpatient services Children’s Specialized Hospital provides. The foundation has been blessed to give back to each of those hospitals by paying forward the kindness of others.
Following are some of the ways The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has made a profound impact on children in need.
- Sponsored more than 60 student-athletes from South Brunswick High School, who are donating their time and youthful energy to participate in a charity kickball tournament benefiting an inspirational township boy living with an incurable and terminal disease.
- Established a fund at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, from which Marisa received outstanding care for her entire life, to provide financial support to families of pediatric patients from Middlesex County in medical crisis by helping to pay medical, personal or incidental expenses.
- Partnered with the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators to offer financial relief to parents of children in medical crisis who lost wages while caring for their child at the hospital, who lack health insurance or whose provider won’t cover certain medical expenses.
Conducted a boardwalk-themed Family Fun Night for consecutive years at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital, where the sights, sounds and smells of the Jersey Shore were brought to patients and their families through carnival games, food, prizes, music and more.- Partnered with the St. Joseph High School football program to pack and donate more than 100 “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.
- Partnered with Old Bridge and South Brunswick high schools to collect thousands of toys for pediatric patients at Saint Peter’s University Children’s Hospital and Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Partnered with the Kittim N. Sherrod Foundation to provide a youth football and cheerleading organization with a bilingual state-of-the art automated external defibrillator, as well as AED and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for adult members of the organization.
Provided money for equipment and supplies for students with disabilities who utilize the Lakeview School’s newly constructed aquatics center.
Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County girl who was born with a complex cardiac defect to vacation with her family at Walt Disney World.
Made a donation in honor of Piscataway’s Conackamack Middle School, which honored Marisa during its 27th annual Turkey Trot, to the township’s FISH Hospitality Program, which provides shelter, meals, clothing and other services to homeless families in Middlesex County.