As I look back over the past twelve months, I am amazed at what we have accomplished. CURE Childhood Cancer has made a big difference in the lives of children and their families. We see the impact every day as we serve on the front lines. But we could do nothing without your generous support. Let’s look at what we’ve done together.
The heartbeat of CURE is our families, and we increased the amount of financial assistance given to families in crisis by 26% over last year. That translates into $153,217 in emergency assistance and $20,000 in transportation assistance grants given to 373 families in need. We also provided $15,265 worth of gas, grocery, and pharmacy cards. This is tangible support given to hundreds of families forced to deal with the devastation a childhood cancer diagnosis brings. In order to meet a need we recently discovered, your gifts allowed us to create a new lodging assistance fund to help families who travel for treatment and need a place to stay for one or two nights.
We quadrupled the number of counseling sessions provided to families in need of emotional support, helping 37 families through the psychological and emotional hardships of childhood cancer. We also hosted more than 100 parents at our bereavement weekends.
CURE’s Open Arms Meal Program served lunches and dinners to over 10,000 hospitalized patients, parents, siblings, and nurses in Atlanta and Savannah. Our patient and family services team also delivered 1854 snack bags and 400 toiletry bags. CURE joined 396 families in their first days of diagnosis by giving a tote full of practical items and tips from other families who have walked the childhood cancer journey. And when we learned that many South Georgia families receive treatment in Jacksonville, your gifts allowed us to offer our support there, also.
Those are numbers; and they are both impressive and important. But our work is not in numbers, it is in people – specifically children fighting cancer and their families. So I wanted to share a recent note we received from a mom dealing with the aftermath of her son’s cancer treatment.
“The implications of our son’s cancer diagnosis did not end the day treatment was completed. Post-treatment implications were just different. I was deeply grateful for the counseling sessions CURE provided because they helped us move forward in a positive manner after cancer treatment and our son has transitioned beautifully back into school, play dates with other children and normal daily living.”
That is a real family, a real problem, and a real solution provided by CURE – made possible only through your generosity. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve families in crisis, but that is only part of our mission. Because children are still fighting cancer, we will too.
Our goal is to eradicate childhood cancer. To that end, CURE awarded over $3.2 million in research grants aimed at improving the survival rates of children fighting cancer. While survival rates are increasing for some childhood cancers, too many children are still left behind. With your support, we are changing that.
Thank you for entrusting us with this work. We are grateful every day for the role your generosity allows us to play in the lives of these precious families. Our hope remains that this will be the year we find a cure.
With Gratitude,
Kristin Connor
Executive Director, CURE Childhood Cancer
