The Community Outreach Program was developed with the concept that it takes a community (village) to raise a child. In this case, a frail child that requires outside help. This program reaches into the community to help bring aid to families of children with special health care needs that are medically fragile, chronically ill or living with a life threatening illness. Families often encounter financial difficulties due to the prolonged special care or the cost of specialty treatments for their children. This can have major financial consequences which can be devastating, often putting the children and their family at risk of losing their homes.
There are many illness-related issues that can have a major impact on the finances of the family. We have seen many families that were forced to reduce from a necessary two income family to a one income family due to the supervision and care that is needed at home for their child. We have seen the impact of mounting medical bills from hospitals, doctors, therapies and medications. We have seen increased utility bills because life-support equipment is on all the time. Sometimes all the support-related government programs still fall short financially in assisting families.
This program assists and instructs families on how to run a fundraiser. The success of this project is to get extended family, neighbors and friends to become a part of the effort to help. We discuss how to reach out for help and the process of approaching businesses or community groups to assist with a fundraiser. An example of some of these groups include: school clubs, churches, firehouses, Rotary clubs, Kiwanis clubs, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Lions clubs, private foundations and many more.
To get started, a family will speak to their service coordinator, case manager or our intake coordinator to discuss their individual situation.
Examples of past Community Outreaches
Cassidy
Cassidy is a beautiful 14 month old girl born with DiGeorge Syndrome; a chromosomal deletion causing her to have a serious heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia, a VSD and Collateral Vessels.
Adriana
Adriana is an 18-month old baby girl born with multiple congenital defects. She was born with a very large Omphalocele, whereby some of her internal organs were outside her boday at birth.
Dominic
Dominic is a seven-year-old boy that was born with Chromosome 5 deletion, cortical blindness, developmental delay, chronic bronchitis, seizure disorder and neuromuscular problems.
Grace Ann
Grace is a 3 year girl who, although born premature, was born in good health. Due to an accident when she was two weeks old, she suffered a severe hypoxic event when her lungs collapsed.
Joseph
Joseph (pictured here with his 4½ yr. old sister Kayla) is a beautiful, 3 ½ yr. old blue eyed boy, who has a variety of serious conditions. He was born with frontal lobe atrophy and epileptic encephalopathy
Julia
Julia is a beautiful five and a half year old girl born with a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy, Asthma, and global developmental delays.
Samantha
Samantha, “Sammy “is a beautiful 10 years old girl that was born premature and had a major bleed in her brain resulting in severe brain damage causing CP and MR. She also has obstructive sleep apnea
Samantha and Jake
Samantha and Jake are sister and brother who have been recently diagnosed with Cockayne Syndrome Type II. Their age expectancy is only between 4 and 7 years old. Samantha is 5 1/2 and Jake is 2 1/2
Tyler Jeanne
Tyler is a 2 year old beautiful girl that was born with an extremely rare and complex group of congenital malformations, referred to as cloacal exstrophy. She was born with her bladder and intestines
Oliver
Oliver is an adorable 8 year old little boy. Oliver had a stroke in utero & as a result, he suffered a brain stem injury. He is totally blind.
Mackenzie
Mackenzie is a beautiful two-year-old who is full of joy and life. With the sweetest of smiles and a love of everyone she meets, she is the miracle we have always hoped for in our lives.
