Students from the Wayland Public Schools never met Marisa Tufaro, a 13-year-old New Jersey resident who died earlier this year after battling a long illness, but are fully embracing the mission of a foundation bearing her name.
Marisa’s parents, Greg and Cyndi, established The Marisa Tufaro Foundation six months after her death as a way of giving back to their hometown community, which provided overwhelming love and support. The nonprofit, with tax-exempt status pending, has a mission statement of “helping children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County (New Jersey) area.”
The foundation’s reach is about to extend to the greater Middlesex County (Massachusetts) area, where Doug Alongi of Wayland, a friend of the Tufaro family, is spearheading the Wayland Public Schools’ Marisa Tufaro Memorial Gift Card Drive to benefit pediatric patients and their families at Boston Children’s Hospital.
A native of Spotswood, New Jersey, Alongi wanted to do something to honor Tufaro’s memory and extend her legacy of helping others outside of the foundation’s intended geographic area. The Tufaros, meanwhile, welcomed an opportunity to assist patients and their families at Boston Children’s Hospital, where Marisa was once a patient.
The Marisa Tufaro Memorial Gift Card Drive seemed to be an ideal marriage, as perfectly matched as the identical names of the two counties in different states that 250 miles of interstate separates.
“The irony is that they are both Middlesex County,” said New Jersey Sen. Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., who serves on The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “Hats off to those schools that have organized this drive so that they can actually put into place their good intentions and do good for others. This proves there are good people in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts.”
The gift card drive will be conducted through mid-November at Wayland’s three elementary schools, where Alongi’s daughters, Emma and Sadie, are students.
“We have a huge emphasis here on service learning and making sure that students understand how to support others, both within the Wayland community and outside,” Loker Principal Brian Jones said of the school district. “It’s important for elementary school students to really understand how we can help others and make a big impact.”
Loker students have already engaged this academic year in a fundraiser for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy Campaign and collected items for Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico.
The three Wayland elementary schools will collect gift cards for Boston Children’s Hospital’s pediatric patients and their families in denominations of $10, $15 and $20. The hospital’s gift card needs are specifically for Amazon, Target, CVS, Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, Visa and American Express.
The gift cards will be used to assist economically strained parents of children in medical crisis who typically lose wages while being out of work and incur costs that health insurers do not cover including travel, lodging, food and personal expenses. The gift cards can also be used to purchase necessities or other items including toys for hospitalized children, all of whom can benefit from a diversion to help cope with the stress and pain that can accompany treatments, medical procedures and extended admissions.
“We help to celebrate birthdays and special occasions here at Boston Children’s Hospital,” said Kirsten Getchell, child life specialist at the hospital. “Many teens, when asked what they want for their birthday, request a gift card so they can shop themselves. When in the hospital, teens often have little control over what is happening to them. However, by giving them the choice to pick out what they want for a special occasion, we are able to provide them with a sense of control and normalcy. Although this may not seem like a big deal, it’s often the small things in life that make the biggest difference.”
Kevin Ciak, president of the National School Boards Association, praised Wayland Public Schools for being an exemplary district in teaching students the value of giving back to the community and the life skills that accompany that act.
“Public schools were founded as the cornerstone of democracy, and part of being the cornerstone of democracy is not only educating citizens, but taking care of that citizenship and training students to respect one another and make the world a better place,” Ciak said. “So to the extent that there is a public school district – and there are others across the country – instilling a love of community service and teaching students the leadership skills required to give back to their communities, it not only makes the world and our community a better place, it also enables those students to learn those skills to succeed in life wherever life takes them.”
‘Good global citizens’
Emma and Sadie Alongi, epitomizing a philosophy at Happy Hollow that encourages students to take the lead on learning projects, will make a presentation about the Marisa Tufaro Memorial Gift Card Drive to classmates.
