Edison cheerleader Maddie Taub (right) plays a boardwalk-style game with youngsters from the Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick. (Photo: Greg Tufaro)
There are practices, meetings, jersey distributions, but no gathering of participants in the Marisa Rose Bowl are more important – even the game itself – than two stops they will make that have nothing to do with football or cheerleading.
The first stop was the Lakeview School in Edison, and the second is the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.
There, just about a week ago, dozens of football players and cheerleaders put on a Boardwalk-themed carnival for the many pediatric patients who live or are otherwise treated at the Hub City facility.
It was a much-needed visit, something that hasn’t happened in several years due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children’s Specialized Hospital isn’t an acute care facility, so it doesn’t deal with kids with broken legs, for example. The children there have much more serious health concerns, tough they have a wide range of out-patient, in-patient, and rehabilitation services.
And Marisa Rose Tufaro – the daughter of Greg and Cyndi Tufaro – spent time at Children’s Specialized as well, making the connection to her namesake bowl game even more special. Marisa survived six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant before succumbing to a rare form of cancer at the age of 13, following a valiant battle against the disease.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Elena Herskowitz, Director of Individual Giving and Philanthropy, at the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital, about their involvement with the Marisa Rose Bowl:
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