Breakfast with Santa in Salisbury, for a good cause

The Salisbury community rallied behind the Vulpi family — longtime community members — on Saturday.

Made up of parents Michele and Patrick, and daughter, Emma Vulpi, the last few months have been challenging.  On Aug. 7, Patrick, 48, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS. The disease is a terminal neurodegenerative condition that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles.

Michele Vulpi said that in the four months since her husband’s diagnosis, his condition has rapidly deteriorated. He needs full-time care and full-time use of a wheelchair. He also uses a BiPAP machine, a non-invasive ventilation therapy used to facilitate breathing, for a few hours during the day.

The ALS Association was able to help the family install a wheelchair ramp at their home, but this was just one hurdle to tackle, among many others.

“We’ve been married 13 years, together for 16 years,” Michele told the Herald. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Emma is a sixth-grade student at W.T. Clarke Middle School in the East Meadow School District. She’s known around the community for the massive toy drive that she’s been running since she was 7 — every year, she uses gift cards and donations that she receives leading up to her Dec. 16 to purchase toys for those in need.

And on her birthday this year, the community did their part to give back, hosting a Breakfast with Santa at W.T. Clarke High School. The sole purpose was to raise money for the Vulpis, to help them tackle financial challenges at Patrick’s AlS progresses.

Admission was $15 per person, but there was also raffles as well as a 50/50 drawing. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, juice, coffee and hot chocolate were on the menu with all food prepared by volunteers, and all money raised benefited the family. There were two seatings on Saturday, in order to accommodate as many people as possible.

Alisa Lauer, a family friend of the Vulpis, helped organize the breakfast, and said she was hopeful proceeds from Saturday’s event would be beneficial.

“Knowing Michele, and knowing what they’ve been through over the last couple of months,” Lauer said, “even those that have good medical insurance, there are just things that are not covered. And unfortunately those things tend to be the high price tag ones.”

In addition to the breakfast, there is a GoFundMe set up that people can donate to. To learn more about the family’s story and to donate, visit GoFund.Me/c65bdf76.

“I want to show Emma the good you put out comes back in some form or another and we have had so much good already and we can never thank everyone enough,” Michele wrote on the GoFundMe page. “We will be forever grateful for those who have stepped up in our time of need.”