Foundation Remembers Tara Hansen with First Donation

A year after its creation, a local foundation is giving back to the community and honoring the memory of a local teacher by donating its first check to the West Freehold School.

Following the tragic death of Tara Hansen, a special education teacher at the West Freehold School, her husband Ryan Hansen, created The Tara Hansen Foundation. The foundation's goals are to honor Tara's memory, continue to give back to the community, and create awareness about maternal mortality – the cause of Tara’s death. The Tara Hansen Foundation officially launched in May 2011. A little over a year later, members of the foundation gathered at the West Freehold School on Friday, Sept. 21 to donate a check that would benefit Tara’s students.

“This check will go to fourth and fifth grade students in special needs classrooms, the same students Tara taught,” explained West Freehold School Principal Edward Aldarelli. “This check will bring assistant technology devices to the classroom for the students.”

The check given to the West Freehold School came from the foundation’s t-shirt sale. According to Hansen, the t-shirts were originally made for close family and friends to wear during local races.

“A group of us always run in the Spring Lake 5 so we made ‘I Run For Tara’ t-shirts to wear,” said Hansen. “The more people that saw the shirts, wanted them, and through Facebook promotion we ended up selling 104 shirts in only four months."

The Tara Hansen Foundation's First Annual Octoberfest, An Event to Prevent, is the next item on the foundation’s agenda. Happening at the Dive! in Sea Bright on Oct. 20, the Octoberfest will be a wine and beer tasting with silent auction. Proceeds from the event will go towards creating a maternal nursing conference with the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Hasen’s goal for the conference is to increase the awareness of maternal mortality and ways it can be prevented. More information about the Octoberfest can be found here. Those interested in donating items for the silent auction can email the foundation at tarahansenfoundation@gmail.com.

In addition to the upcoming Octoberfest, The Tara Hansen Foundation is also gearing up for a golf outing that will take place next fall.

To learn more about The Tara Hansen Foundation visit the foundation’s website at or find the foundation on Facebook.