Spring is here and it’s time for another Give Back Tuesday blog. For this next feature, we are highlighting the work and mission of a special organization that provides support to many kids in need and their families: Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.
Just like all the other organizations we have introduced, Kids Cancer Care cannot do it alone, they need our support more than ever. Please join us on this campaign to create awareness about the needs of this Calgary non-for-profit, and how we can help them help others.
Their mission
Kids Cancer Care is a non-profit passionately dedicated to helping young people affected by cancer and their families survive and thrive in body, mind and spirit.
The foundation helps Alberta children and families by providing funding and programs in key areas such as camp and outreach, research and hospital, and education support and scholarship programs.
Fundraising efforts
When the world began shutting down in March 2020, the Kids Cancer Care team watched as their main sources of revenue – fundraising events and Camp Kindle rentals - were cancelled one by one, while many families still needed their support.
In the midst of a global pandemic, parents were still hearing the words “your child has cancer,” for the first time. Families were still in the throngs of treatment protocols, bereaved parents and siblings who had lost a family member to cancer were still grieving and children were still suffering long term affects from cancer treatments.
Despite all the difficulties, their team never gave up, and they adapted their programs immediately. From the ground up, they built a vibrant online community with online tutoring, exercise classes, virtual petting zoos, scavenger hunts, and webinars. And, because they moved so many programs online, for the first time ever they delivered programs to children at the hospital in real time. They even did camp in the form of private getaways for families at Camp Kindle.
They turned big fundraisers to virtual events, with their community stepping up to collect bottles, shaving their heads for donations, and buying tickets for virtual and COVID-adapted events.
Current needs
While they are very grateful to their community for the incredible support, their team expressed that they just can’t raise money the way they used to.
It’s easy to lose sight that right now hundreds of Alberta children are fighting for their lives. Their families are emotionally, physically, financially and mentally exhausted.
In 2021, they have put out the call to sign up 190 Albertans to become monthly donors, which represents a new monthly donor for every new child diagnosed with cancer in Alberta this year.
It doesn’t take much to make a lasting difference in the life of a child with cancer. With your financial support, Kids Cancer Care will be able to provide essential programs to meet the needs of the whole family at each stage in the child's cancer journey, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond.
To learn more about the monthly donor program and other ways to help, please visit https://www.kidscancercare.ab.ca/get-involved
And while they continue to fundraise online, Kids Cancer Care Alberta looks forward to gathering for some amazing events and programs once it is safe to do so.