The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has made a profound impact

Through the remarkable generosity of individuals who have donated, participated in fundraising events, or collaborated with our nonprofit on community service projects, following are some of the ways The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has been honored and privileged to make a profound impact in fulfilling its mission of assisting pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area (please click on the links below to read about each of our initiatives).

• Donated a portable gaming station, four iPads with protective cases, more than 700 new children’s books, two multi-device courtesy charging stations, and established a Patient Assistance Fund at Hackensack Meridian Health JFK University Medical Center.

• 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.

• Provided funding to expand the music therapy program and purchase musical equipment for pediatric patients at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick.

• Provided tuition assistance for children enrolled in Middlesex College’s on-campus Early Learning Center, which provides year-round preschool activities for children of Middlesex College students, staff, and community residents.

• Delivered more than 1,200 brand new children’s books to Middlesex County medical providers to give to income-challenged parents and their children as part of New Jersey’s Reach Out and Read program through our partnership with the Saint Joseph and Saint Thomas Aquinas high school football programs.

• Provided the gift of YMCA of Metuchen, Edison, Woodbridge and South Amboy summer camp to children whose families are in financial need.

• Made a generous donation to support Special Olympics programs and athletes in Middlesex County in honor of the Edison Township Police Department and Captain Jason Gerba.

• Sponsored 60 Greater Middlesex Conference golfers to participate for four consecutive years in the Tee Off Against Hunger to benefit Hands of Hope for the Community, a nonprofit that combats hunger in Middlesex County.

• Provided fully funded grants to make certified therapy dogs available through Creature Comfort Pet Therapy to schools, public libraries, and other facilities that serve children throughout the greater Middlesex County area.

• 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.

• In honor of Edison High School’s graduating Class of 2021, of which Marisa would have been a part, made 10 separate donations of $2,021 – totaling $20,210 – to organizations who share The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s mission of helping Middlesex County children in need.

• Donated $8,000 through the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Greater Middlesex Conference Baseball Coaches Association charity golf outing, of which our nonprofit was the beneficiary, to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s Child Life Program.

• Partnered with the Give-Back Initiative to donate gift cards valued at $100 each to 44 Edison Township families in need, helping them purchase food, necessities and presents during the holiday season.

• Provided Thanksgiving Day dinners to patients and their families at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.

• Provided families displaced by an apartment complex fire with gift cards to purchase clothes for their children.

• As a way of giving back to the Greater Middlesex Conference, which has been among our nonprofit’s biggest supporters, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation jump-started the league’s fundraising effort to feed county families during the coronavirus pandemic with a $2,500 donation to the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Services.

• Provided funding for a part-time healthcare social worker to assist families of pediatric patients under the care of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics’ Division of Pediatric Cardiology.

• Partnered with the Colonia High School football team to tackle a Super Bowl-themed community service project that benefited pediatric patients and their families at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.

• Funded the purchase of uniforms (shirts and shorts) for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.

• Donated to Women Aware’s PALS Program, which offers counseling for children ages 3 through 12 and supportive services including individual and group creative arts therapy counseling sessions to families who have been victimized by domestic violence and abuse.

• Partnered with The Peter Fund for consecutive years to present Kindness Counts Awards to nine Greater Middlesex Conference student-athletes, who received a total of $4,500 to donate in their name and honor to the charity of their choice serving Middlesex County children in need.

• Sponsored more than 80 South Brunswick High School student-athletes who donated their time and youthful energy to participate in a charity kickball tournament benefiting an inspirational Middlesex County 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 Woodbridge High School through its “Pictures with Santa” event to make a $1,800 financial and gift card donation to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital in support of the hospital’s virtual toy drive.

• Donated $3,000 to PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital and the Lakeview School in honor of the football players and cheerleaders who would have participated in the 27th annual Middlesex-Union County All-Star Game, a charity event which the coronavirus pandemic canceled.

• Donated to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s newly established extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program, a specialized cardiac and respiratory support system that saved Marisa’s life at another medical facility following her heart transplant.

• Partnered with the Give-Back Initiative to donate $4,000 to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick for the purchase of iPads and age and developmentally appropriate toys and games for pediatric patients.

• Partnered with the Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen bowling team to assist food insecure families during the holiday season.

• Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to treat Special Olympics athletes from the Raritan Bay Area YMCA to a Somerset Patriots game experience.

• Partnered with the Saint Joseph High School football program and campus ministry to pack and donate more than 200 “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.

• Contributed funds to help a family secure a fully trained service dog for a 9-year-old girl with autism who also suffers from medical issues.

• On the anniversary of Marisa’s passing, donated to The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s new Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program.

• To help alleviate the anxiety that can accompany an emergency department visit or hospital stay, donated a portable gaming station with more than two dozen preloaded video games to The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.

• Paid tribute to the late Ron Mazzola, cancer survivor Jake Koppel and the caring Spotswood school-community with a donation to the Division of Hematology/Oncology at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital.

• 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.

• Provided summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for 31 Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.

• Provided college scholarships totaling $36,500 to 50 high school students whose classroom performance and extracurricular involvement reflected Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors aligned with our foundation’s mission.

• Sponsored a Middlesex County elementary school’s field trip to Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center in Monroe, where students from self-contained autistic classes were afforded the opportunity to interact with horses and baby goats.

• Partnered with Woodbridge High School, the Central Jersey bowling community and the Port Reading Fire Department and EMS to deliver more than 1,000 toys to patients at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital during the holiday season.

• As a way of giving back to the Rutgers University baseball program, whose roster features several players that have supported our nonprofit, our foundation matched the Scarlet Knights’ fundraising efforts with a donation to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s child life program.

• Assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses.

• Paid forward the generosity Saint Thomas Aquinas High School has bestowed upon our foundation with a donation to the school community’s annual Ahr Star spaghetti dinner, whose beneficiaries included a 9-year-old boy from Middlesex County with multiple disabilities.

• Donated $3,000 to RWJBarnabas Health’s children’s hospitals, paying forward the kindness of football players and coaches who support our nonprofit and in honor of their ability to navigate a pandemic-impacted season.

• Partnered with the Edison and J.P. Stevens high school girls basketball teams to collect baby care items to donate to the Edison-based Ozanam Family Shelter.

• 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 insurance provider won’t cover certain medical expenses.

• Funded the purchase of brand-new metal bunk beds for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.

• 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.

• Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, to which our foundation also provided funds for infant mobiles and toy cars staff use to transport children to the operating room for surgery.

• Provided money for equipment and supplies for students with disabilities who utilize the Lakeview School’s newly constructed aquatics center.

• Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to provide medical alert bracelets to children with autism and pediatric patients with chronic illness who receive outstanding care from Children’s Specialized Hospital, which annually serves more than 34,000 children statewide.

• Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County boy who is winning a battle with high-risk neuroblastoma to vacation with his family at Walt Disney World.

• Provided physical therapy at Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center and Project Walk for Middlesex County children whose families do not have health insurance or whose families’ health insurer does not cover the cost of the physical therapy.

• Partnered with Edison High School and the Chamberlain College of Nursing for two consecutive years to raise money and collect nonperishable food items to benefit Middlesex County children and their families through Hands of Hope for the Community via our foundation’s participation in the Race to Outrun Hunger.

• Provided new iPads and gaming system accessories (Xbox and PS4 games, controllers, chargers) for adolescent patients at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.

• Partnered with Woodbridge High School and the Central Jersey bowling community to deliver hundreds of toys to patients at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, where Marisa underwent a successful heart transplant.

• Made a donation in recognition of Piscataway’s Conackamack Middle School, which honored Marisa during its annual Turkey Trot, to the township’s FISH Hospitality Program, which provides shelter, meals, clothing and other services to homeless families in Middlesex County.

• Provided James Monroe Elementary School students with food items to fill a hundred “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families.

• Donated more than $2,500 worth of ShopRite, Target and Walmart gift cards to dozens of Middlesex County families in need, helping parents purchase food, necessities and presents for their children during the holiday season.

• Made a $1,000 donation in the name of the East Brunswick wrestling program to Mayor Cohen’s Charity Fund and another donation of $1,000 in the name of the Perth Amboy wrestling program to the Raritan Bay Area YMCA to pay forward the kindness of both programs.

• Partnered with Prevention Links’ Greenway Family Success Center in Avenel to sponsor a select number of families, fully covering their cost to attend Scarlett’s Mini Golf Gala. The event benefited a brave 4-year-old Woodbridge Township girl bravely battling  Morquio A Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.

• In honor of the players and coaches who participated in the Soccer for a Cause Charity Festival, our nonprofit made a $1,000 donation to REPLENISH, a regional food bank serving Middlesex County residents including an estimated 30,000 children.

• Commemorated National Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day with a donation to the CHOP Cardiac Center at Saint Peter’s Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick and Team Laney Bug.

• Provided meals and goods for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Central Jersey.

• Partnered with Middlesex High School to conduct a coat drive for Middlesex County children.

• Provided gift cards for pediatric patients and their families.