Marzuco will be grand marshal
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Ste. Genevieve business owner and special needs proponent Charles “Chip” Marzuco will be grand marshal of the Dec. 6 Christmas parade.
In addition to owning Marzuco Electric, Marzuco and his wife, the former Kathy Jokerst, have championed special needs children. Along with Jason and Sara Schott, Marzuco pushed for the building of Braden & Friends Challenger Playground in September 2016 for special needs youngsters. (It bears the name of the Schotts’ son Braden.) They also helped raise money for the Challenger Baseball Field.
“He raised so much money to get that,” said Annette Rolfe, executive director of the Ste. Genevieve Holiday Christmas Festival. “He raised an amazing amount.
“And not just that, he does so many things that he doesn’t take credit for at all. “
In 2008, Marzuco launched the annual Spring For Down Syndrome event to raise funds and awareness for the condition.
The birth of their son Andrew led the Marzucos into the field.
“When Andrew was born, he was born with Down syndrome, and we got tied in with the St. Louis Association for Down syndrome as soon as he was born, and they helped us out tremendously,” Marzuco said. “When he was about four or five, there was some friends sitting around the house, and they had a fundraiser for Down Syndrome Awareness. And it was to see who could raise the most money for his age group or get the most friends to go to the Cardinal game.
“Well, we ended up raising the most money in his age group, and we brought over 94 friends to the Cardinal game. So we ended up winning first place in both divisions, but we gave, of course, to another family with Down syndrome so they could participate. And ever since then, we’ve been raising money for Down syndrome awareness, along with our special needs to help fund their activities.”
The annual event now includes the popular UTV/Jeep Poker Run,which now brings in thousands of participants each year.
“We had 621 UTVs and Jeeps at our event last year,” he said. “We brought people from all over the United States, had Texas, Florida, Kansas with the farthest.one came from Colorado to participate in the event.”
Proceeds fund local activities for special needs children.
“We actually fund everything for our special needs in Ste. Genevieve for free. So they play basketball, baseball, pickleball, bowling, dances, and everything’s 100% free,” Marzuco said. “When we buy the jerseys for their pickleball teams or their basketball teams, basically all the food, all the activities for them is free. ”
Andrew’s tragic death at age 20 in December 2022 did not dim the Marzucos’ dedication to the cause.
Andrew worked at Common Grounds coffee shop and the River Rapids Waterpark, in addition to serving as manager for the Ste. Genevieve High School football team.
“I guess Andrew’s made an impression in the town because he’s got a sandwich named after him at the coffee house that he worked at,” Marzuco said. “ He was a manager up at Ste. Gen football team and they have the Andrew Marzucco Loyal and True Award, which is a very high-ranking award in the football team. He’s got a monument out at the Challenger baseball field. So that’s one thing with him – everybody he seen or touched, he made an impression. ” He started us on this trip, I guess you’d say, and we’re going to live his legacy, I guess, as long as we can.”
Marzuco’s work is appreciated.
“He just does it out of the kindness of his heart,” Rolfe said. “You know, some of this stuff I can’t even tell you about. He’ll raise money and give it to someone in need, you know, that sort of thing, give people things.
“And he’s done so much for the Down syndrome and continues to do so out of the love he had for his child that he will give the same love to other people’s children and try to better their lives. That is why he’s been selected. I think there’s a tremendous amount of greatness inside of him.”
Born here in 1961, Marzuco graduated from Valle Catholic High School in 1979. He and Kathy have two surviving children. Maria, who was Andrew’s twin, graduated with honors from Southeast Missouri State University is now director of the Southeast Missouri Down Syndrome Association. Abby, who has been on the Southeast dean’s list and president’s list from her freshman year on, will graduate in December. She plans to be a forensic chemist.
Marzuco has run Marzuco Electric for 46 years, after launching it with the help of his father, while still in school. He also sold and delivered appliances for the late Art Papin as a teen..
Marzuco considers it an honor to be chosen grand marshal.
“It’s an awesome feeling and a very appreciated feeling,” he said. “I could not be where I am without the help of my wife, Kathy, and my two girls, Maria and Abby, and special friends and volunteers from the past 17 years that helped make the fundraiser a huge success.