Giving For The Holidays
This holiday, why not ask your family, friends, co-workers or secret santas to donate to Connor's Heroes instead of purchasing gifts? A $10, $25 or $50 tax-deductible donation will help a child who is spending the holidays in treatment here in Richmond. You will make sure no family in Central Virginia will go through their child's cancer alone. Feel free to download the graphics. Include them in a text, email or your holiday cards. Anyone can donate online at our secure site, www.connorsheroes.org/donate, or mail a check to Connor's Heroes, P.O. Box 2536, Midlothian VA 23113. If you have other suggestions, contact me at lisa@connorsheroes.org.
Video of our Heroes
Flipgram is a fun way to show you a collage of photos. Here's one created for our end-of-the-year giving campaign. In one minute, you will see our heroes such as Landon, Katie, Caleb, Pierson and the volunteers who helped throughout the year. As you're with your family,friends and co-workers over the holiday, you can tell them about Connor's Heroes by showing them this video. Whether you donate to support our programs or pediatric cancer research, your gift will impact the lives of families battling childhood cancer. Discover how...
Hero Families Take Tacky Lights Tour
Connor’s Heroes decided this year, for our annual holiday outing for our hero families, we would rent a bus and do a Holiday Tacky Lights Tour. Reservations for the bus filled up quickly. More than 50 children, parents and grandparents joined in! We toured for three hours; with ohh's and ahh's at every house and singing Christmas carols in between.
Thank you to Hannah Rhudy for serving delicious hot chocolate and baking cookies for the families. Thank you to Winn Transportation for providing the tour at a discount rate and Captain Dan who was our wonderful driver and guide.
Connor’s Heroes can offer fun outings for our families due to the generosity of our community of heroes who give to Connor’s Heroes. This trip with our Superheroes & Sidekicks was supported by a grant from the Altria Companies Employee Community Fund. You can make a difference to a family with a child in treatment for cancer through your end-of-the-year gift.
Happy Holidays!
Superbowl Quarterback Meets Our Hero, Thomas
Sometimes a birthday wish does come true. That certainly was the case for our hero, Thomas. Thomas considers Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, his hero. When we realized the Seahawks were playing in Baltimore the weekend of Thomas’s birthday, our community of heroes sprung into action! As Thomas’s grandmother commented on our Facebook page, “Thank you so much for everything you have done for my family. Words can't describe the joy you have brought my grandson Thomas and family.” The photo essay below shows Thomas's amazing weekend.
When you give to Connor’s Heroes, you allow us to help a family in a meaningful way. We are in the middle of our end-of-year- campaign to raise the money we need to help our hero families in 2016. Make your donation online or by mailing a check to Connor's Heroes, P.O. Box 2536, Midlothian VA 23113.
End Of Year Giving Is Happening Now
December is the time of year when Connor's Heroes asks you to make your annual gift in honor of our Heroes. Historically, our annual campaign raises the money we need to make sure every child who is in treatment for childhood cancer is helped by Connor's Heroes.
How does your gift directly help a family? Some families need financial assistance with household expenses such as groceries, gas, clothing. Other families ask us to help with housework, yard work or transportation. Our Superheroes and Sidekicks give siblings lots of attention. Families enjoy the outings we offer such as Sunday Funday and a bus trip to see all the Holiday Tacky Lights. For some of you, childhood cancer research is important so you give to the Connor's Heroes Pediatric Cancer Research Fund.
The more you give, the more we can give to our brave childhood cancer heroes. You can donate online at our secure website or mail your check to Connor's Heroes, P.O. Box 2536, Midlothian VA 23113. Thank you!
A Note of Thanks
The week before Thanksgiving, 42 families found in their mailbox a card from Connor's Heroes. Inside was a $50 gift card from their favorite grocery store. Every other month, CHF mails gift cards to needy families who've registered with us. Treating childhood cancer often comes at a great financial cost to families. The average out-of-pocket cost is nearly $10,000. Then there are the hidden costs of: food, transportation, and accommodation. That's where Connor's Heroes can help. As you can read from the wonderful note sent to us, a gift card for groceries makes a difference to a family who's struggling with the week's expenses then give to Connor's Heroes. You'll allow us to make sure no family in Central Virginia faces their child's cancer alone.
Fall Clean Up for Hero Families
The Saturday before Thanksgiving, four of our families woke up to a crew of volunteers cleaning up their yards. No surprise, but when your child is in treatment for cancer, common household chores are not a priority. The Fish family travel between Richmond and Duke for Moriah's treatment. D'Marco's family have practically lived in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit this fall. Sylvia's family are helping her battle cancer again. SKIP, a service group made up of students from area schools, cleaned Thomas's yard.
Maureen, one of the volunteers said,
"We celebrated National Family Volunteer Day with two of my favorite groups – SKIP and Connor’s Heroes. Our family joined other families to do fall yard clean up for a Connor's Heroes family. This simple activity was meaningful and fun. It was great to know we could lessen the stress and burden of everyday chores for a family who needs to focus on the health of their child."
This day was part of our program, Helping Heroes. Erin works with our families and offers help with yard work, housecleaning, child care, maintenance. Connor's Heroes is in the midst of its end-of-year giving campaign. When you give to Connor's Heroes, you will fund our Helping Heroes program and the other support we give our families. Give in honor of your favorite hero!
Christmas Mother Fund Help Hero Families
Thank you to The Richmond Christmas Mother Fund for granting us $1,000. We will use the money to buy gifts for our neediest families. Erin is busy getting Wish Lists from the parents. She has dozens of "elves" who will make sure the presents arrive in time for the holidays. This is the second year we received a grant from the Christmas Mother Fund. Here's a photo of the parents of Cooper and the wonderful gifts they were able to give their family last year. This is another example of how Connor's Heroes makes a difference to a family with a child battling cancer.
If you are in the spirit of giving, now’s the time to make your annual gift to Connor’s Heroes. Your donation stays within the community. It will help the 100 families who register with us. We will spend time getting to know them. Because Connor’s Heroes was started by a family who went through their son’s cancer treatment, they understand what it’s like to journey with childhood cancer.
Shop on smile.amazon this holiday
Make the most of your holiday shopping and help the families with Connor's Heroes. If you shop on Amazon, make sure you use their charitable site, smile.amazon. You log in with your same credentials but you must be on the smile.amazon site. Shop like you normally do and we'll receive a check. Remember to bookmark http://smile.amazon.com/ch/20-4992632
Lifting Up Landon
Landon was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in February. Like most families, they set up a Facebook page. They call it “Lifting Up Landon.” Close to 3,000 people follow this brave boy. Landon has a strong network that his parents lean on. So, how could Connor’s Heroes help?
We understand the challenges and sensitivity of childhood cancer - especially when a family is in the hospital or clinic. Children love the Heroes Backpack because it's filled with toys, playdough, electronics that they can play with on their hospital beds. Our Parent Tote has a thermometer, journals, thank you cards and vouchers for meals and housecleaning – all items recommended by the parents who’ve had a child in treatment. The Bone Marrow Transplant Unit can be very isolating to our families. Our Room Of Possibilities is their family playroom with Wii, board games, books and videos. We know the names of the restaurants and food trucks on campus. Know one of the biggest stresses on a family? Driving around the MCV parking deck and not having cash to pay for parking. We figured out how to purchase parking passes for families.
All these details make a difference to our families.
Since Landon registered with Connor’s Heroes in March, we reached out to his family thirty times. That’s a month full of caring! It had been a quick call. An email. A visit in clinic. “How’s Landon doing?” “How can Connor’s Heroes help?” Volunteers surprised him by decorating his hospital room with Mario and Minions for his admission to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. His Day Zero was a milestone. A $25 or $50 gift card for groceries and gas meant the family had money for other expenses. And, most appreciated, weeks’ worth of parking passes!
Landon is in the maintenance stage of his treatment. The posts on his Facebook page are positive. I’m happy his mom and dad took the time to register with Connor’s Heroes. I am thankful for the opportunity to take my family and other parents' experience so we can pay it forward to help the children who are battling cancer in Richmond today. Thank you for supporting Connor’s Heroes. Happy Thanksgiving.
