In Salisbury, Breakfast with Santa to benefit Vulpi family

For many years, 11-year-old Emma Vulpi of Salisbury has been giving back to those in need.

Her efforts began when she was 7, and decided to use the gift cards she received on her Dec. 16 birthday to buy toys for children in area hospitals during the holidays.

Since her first year of donating in 2019, Emma’s efforts have only grown. Last year, she worked with the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, a Wantagh-based charity that does just what she strived to do — donate hundreds of toys to kids that need it most.

But now Emma and her family, which includes her mom, Michele, and dad, Patrick Vulpi, are facing their an uphill battle. 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.”

Michele said the family is selling both of their cars in order to afford a modified van that can help transport her husband. On top of Patrick’s illness, Michele’s father is also battling liver and bone cancer, which has only added to the stress of her husband’s diagnosis.

Emma is a sixth-grade student at W.T. Clarke Middle School in the East Meadow School District, and this Saturday, residents from Salisbury and East Meadow are rallying behind the Vulpi family to do their part to give back to a family that’s been an integral part of the community for years.

Friends of the family, district officials and other members of the community have banded together to host a Breakfast with Santa on Dec. 16, that’ll serve solely as a fundraiser for the family, in hopes that money raised with help alleviate some of the financial burden associated with an ALS diagnosis.

Alisa Lauer, whose daughter went to elementary school with Emma, and now is in middle school with her, helped organize the fundraiser.

“There was a group of moms who got together, and were brainstorming ideas or ways that we could help the family,” Lauer said. “And this was one of the ideas that had come up. And everything sort of fell into place to be able to put it together.”

The breakfast, in the cafeteria at W.T. Clarke High School at 740 Edgewood Dr., Westbury, will take place in two seatings, the first at 9:30 a.m. and the second at 11:30 a.m. Admission is $15 per person, but there will also be a lot of raffles as well as a 50/50 drawing. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, juice, coffee and hot chocolate are on the menu with all food prepared by volunteers, and all money raised will benefit the family.

“This is an opportunity for the community to come together and help out a fellow community member, especially at this time of year,” Lauer said.

To register for the breakfast, visit Bit.Ly/VulpiFamily.

The financial burdens the Vulpi family face are tough, Lauer added, and the she is hopeful that any donation will help.

“Knowing Michele, and knowing what they’ve been through over the last couple of months,” she 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. So, we were just looking for something that we are hoping that community would want to get involved in to help them out.”

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.”

And despite everything that’s going on, Emma is still orchestrating this year’s toy donation. She’ll once again be donating to the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, this year giving them over $4,000 worth of toys.

“Emma has helped so many kids on Long Island since she was 7,” Michele said. “And it’s nice to know that people want to give back to us.”