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22 United Way agencies − including four new ones − share $850,750

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By Ardie Arvidson | SC Now – June 26, 2020

FLORENCE, S.C. – The United Way of Florence County announced on Thursday at its Community Investment Committee (CIC) Allocation Luncheon that it will be partnering with 22 agencies that will share $850,750 in 30 programs during the 2020-2021 fiscal year that begins Wednesday.

The event was a celebratory luncheon honoring the 22 partner agencies.

“We have added four new agencies,” said Jenna Nance, the marketing manager of the United Way of Florence County.

The new agencies for the 2020-2021 year are Harvest Hope Food Bank, The Naomi Project, Foster Care Clothing Project and Tenacious Grace Ministries.

Quincy Kennedy, the chairman of the CIC of United Way, said he has been on the United Way Board for a long time but that being on the CIC is a real eye-opener.

“Until you sit in front of them (agencies), you don’t know what they really do,” he said.

In the past, Kennedy said the agencies have come before the allocation committee and made a presentation for an estimated 25 minutes about what they do and their needs. He said last year the CIC decided to go to the agencies to see where they work and what they do, which he said gave them a different perspective.

[Read more…] about 22 United Way agencies − including four new ones − share $850,750

How parents of children with cancer are navigating COVID-19

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By Adam Mintzer | May 16, 2020 at 4:37 PM EDT – Updated May 17 at 5:25 AM

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Children generally have more mild symptoms of COVID-19 than adults, according to the CDC. But some parents are sure contracting coronavirus could be life-threatening for their kids.

Children with cancer have weaker immune systems and therefore are more at risk of developing worse symptoms from the virus, according to Laura Allen the Executive Director of Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas, a charity that provides supports to families with children who have cancer.

Allen said COVID-19 has made it more difficult for some parents to get critical appointments because of restrictions at hospitals and the spread of the disease means a single touch or interaction could put a child’s health at risk.

“I think it’s more challenging for our parents now to keep their kids safe,” Allen said. “You’re at high risk because of what you’ve been through.”

Jacqueline Harris is all too familiar with the dangers of being out in public.

Harris’ 14-year-old daughter De ‘Andria has Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a type of cancer that infects the blood. Harris said she’s kept De ‘Andria quarantined in her home since she was diagnosed, but since the coronavirus outbreak, they’ve had to be more cautious.

Harris and De ’Andria are from Columbia but are living in a hotel in Charleston to stay separated from their family and to be closer to De ’Andria’s doctor.

“We are quarantined two hours away from our family and they can’t even come and visit. That’s the biggest thing I think for her. My daughter, dealing with this, [and] not being able to see her siblings or any other family,” Harris said.

[Read more…] about How parents of children with cancer are navigating COVID-19

Changing Lives With Children’s Cancer Partners: An Interview With Nene Gunn

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Forest Companion Magazine

By Jessica Ayala

April 2020

 

Tell us about Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas? How long has it been active and what is
the mission?

Cancer is the #1 disease killer of children in the Carolinas, attacking over 600 more children every year. One in five will not survive, but the children of rural or poor families are three times more likely to be misdiagnosed, under-treated and die. There are very few places that treat children – just six in NC, just three in SC … none have all the treatments and many children must go to New York, Houston, or beyond for specialized care. An extraordinary organization helping children battling cancer all across North and South Carolina, CCP was started back in 2001 as a local service project in Spartanburg, SC, and helped 100 families across its first 14 years. Then it was “discovered” by a distant philanthropic couple who challenged the organization to do more with a major, multi-year gift. Since then, in just 3½ years, it has grown from one county to 146 (entire Carolinas) and from 20 children to nearly 1,000 today, providing families with support for treatment, transportation, lodging, meals, and essential home-care. If financial burdens overwhelm families, CCP helps avoid evictions, repossessions, insurance cancellations. If the battle is lost, CCP helps with funeral expenses and grief counseling – as it did 50 times in 2019.

When did you join the board of this organization and what drew you to the cause?

I joined the Board of Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas in 2018 after being contacted by Laura Allen. Laura and I were friends in Nashville, TN, for many years. We were both very involved in many community organizations together, especially the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt where we both worked in the Development office. Laura moved to Spartanburg, SC, and is the Executive Director of Carolina Cancer Partners of the Carolinas. Her enthusiasm for the organization, it’s mission and focus are contagious. She has an overwhelming making a difference desire to help the children in NC and SC who have been given a cancer diagnosis and their families. The organization and its outreach have grown tremendously and helped so many. This board was a natural fit for me. I am so proud to be part of their mission.

Who does the organization serve and how do they give back to them?

Children ages birth to through age 18 are referred to CCP by pediatric oncology treatment centers at the time they are received every month – 48 in December alone. CCP responds immediately, arranging within 24 hours an in-person meeting with each family, providing emotional, logistical, and financial support so they know they are not alone on their terrifying journey. The support is comprehensive – whatever is necessary to ensure timely and complete access to care for the child, and it is continuous throughout the journey to age 21 since many children experience debilitating late-effects even after becoming cancer-free. CCP holds peer-support events throughout the year, connecting families to overcome their isolation, including a three-day residential Camp Victory each spring for the whole family and giant Christmas parties in Raleigh and Spartanburg.

[Read more…] about Changing Lives With Children’s Cancer Partners: An Interview With Nene Gunn

Coronavirus presents new challenges for pediatric cancer patients

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Coronavirus presents new challenges for pediatric cancer patients
Pediatric Cancer patients face additional hardships during COVID-19. (Source: Children’s Cancer Partners)
WECT News
By Emily Featherston
April 1, 2020 

 

SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA (WECT) – For children battling pediatric cancer and for their family, the novel coronavirus presents a special set of problems.

Due to the immune suppression caused by many cancer treatments, children with cancer are considered a high-risk group when it comes to the virus.

However, there are other issues someone not facing the disease might not consider, said Laura Allen with Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas (CCP).

Access to care

Most pediatric oncology treatment is done in large cities, so patients living in southeastern North Carolina have to travel to other parts of the state for care.

“They are taking long-distance travel to get to their treatment, so we make sure that their transportation, food and lodging is taken care of,” Allen said

From putting gas in the car to helping book an extended stay in a hotel, CCP is used to helping with the challenges that come with a pediatric cancer diagnosis, but Allen said COVID-19 has caused families to run into road block after road block.

From canceled flights to changes in hospital visitation policies, the virus is making things difficult.

“Right now unfortunately the Ronald McDonald houses are not accepting new patients, so we are working with those children to make sure that they have hotel accommodations in those cities,” Allen said.

Flights have been canceled, as have many follow-up appointments with specialists.

“We’ve had notes from parents and phone calls from parents just very distressed that they can’t get their child to their appointment, because that is the sense of when you’re in survivorship and you go once every six months or every three months, you were getting that reinforcement as a parent that your child is doing OK, or you know that there’s something not right there’s cell count is down or something,” she said.

Financial

Layoffs in many sectors of the economy have also made things difficult for families already facing the monetary hardship a cancer diagnosis brings.

According to CCP data, one in three families with a child battling cancer are unable to meet their basic needs because of that diagnosis.

“We are seeing those kinds of things where here our families who were already vulnerable because a two income family became one, maybe right now that one income may be compromised. It may be hours that have been cut back,” she said.

That’s where organizations like CCP come in.

Allen said she and her coworkers, while now working remotely from home, serve 1005 children and families who have been referred by hospitals to the organization.

“We are reaching out … making sure that their needs are being met, understanding with their challenges are, helping them with scheduling,” she said.

Fundraising

CCP efforts to raise money to support their services have also been stymied by the virus.

The annual “Kidz in Lids” campaign where children bring in a dollar donation in exchange for wearing a hat has been put on hold due to school closures, though Allen said she hopes there will be a way for them to still participate.

Of donations, CCP says 85 percent of every dollar is used for the financial support of families or providing services.

For more information, or if you are a family facing pediatric cancer, CCP has details on their website.

Copyright 2020 WECT. All rights reserved.

Emily Featherston is a journalist with background in community reporting. She joined WECT in August 2018, and is a multimedia reporter focused on Wilmington’s local government.

Schools raise funds for cancer research to help kids like Reece

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Students at Summerville Catholic dubbed Reece Kolar as their favorite superhero. Schools in the diocese raised more than $6,000 for cancer research.
The Catholic Miscellany
By Theresa Stratford
March 30, 2020

 

SUMMERVILLE—Rachel Kolar has a love/hate relationship with the date of March 9. On one hand, she loves it because it is her son, Reece’s, birthday, and she will never forget welcoming him into the world on that day back in 2012. But, on the other hand, it was the date in 2018 that she found out he had cancer. 

It was brain cancer — medulloblastoma to be exact. At just 6 years old, Reece faced brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. He endured 56 weeks of treatments, including 30 radiation treatments and 37 weeks of chemotherapy. 

The brain surgery left him mute for three  weeks and unable to walk for six. Gradually, Reece, who is now 8 and a second-grader at Summerville Catholic School, regained strength and has been declared NED (no evidence of disease). 

Kolar believes wholeheartedly in the power of prayer.

“He’s thriving, riding a bike and running. This is the best case scenario. God has provided,” she said. 

And through it all, her Catholic faith never left her. But, she said that it was the “huge support system” that Summerville Catholic provided for her family that was truly powerful. 

“From the moment Reece was diagnosed as a kindergartener there, the community support was amazing. They have done so much for us over the years,” Kolar explained. 

Zara Rushin, the school’s administrative assistant, said they wanted to rally around the Kolars. Over the past two years, they have held a number of fundraisers to help the family, and also for pediatric cancer research in general. 

“When you become a cancer mom, you want there to be more money for pediatric cancer research. There isn’t enough funding for cancer in children. You would think there would be, but there isn’t. They are being given drugs geared towards adults. As a mom, you want there to be better treatments offered for kids,” Kolar said.

Summerville Catholic has raised money in a variety of ways, including pajama days, and donations for wrist bands and T-shirts. 

Rushin said the most recent fundraiser was called Hearts of Gold. A monetary donation was given for each heart that the students colored gold and they were displayed in the school. 

“It changed the school when Reece was diagnosed,” Rushin said. “It has been an amazing journey and he has touched us all.”

And Summerville Catholic isn’t the only school involved. Throughout the diocese, schools participated in a program called Kidz in Lids, which raised over $6,000 for cancer research from 14 schools.

St. Martin de Porres School in Columbia adopted the program to benefit the Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas. On the last Friday of each month, which is designated as “spirit day,” students and staff wore their favorite hat and spirit day attire in exchange for a donation. Children donated $1 and the staff donated $3. In total, St. Martin de Porres raised $500 for the program. 

The small school of about 45 students in pre-K through sixth grade considers generosity to be a key component of a Catholic education, said Delores Gilliard, principal. 

“We want to adopt projects like this to show our students how important it is to give back,” she said.

Cameron Sullivan, a fifth-grader at St. Martin de Porres, agreed.

“We want to support children with cancer because we want them to get to go to camp and have some fun. Giving improves the lives of others,” she said.

“It’s important to give to others. Giving shows Christ’s love to the world,” said Lilly Ezike, a sixth-grader.

Laura Allen, executive director for Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas, explained that the funds raised through Kidz in Lids are used exclusively to ensure local children in the Carolinas get treatment. 

“We also help with lodging, meals, home care needs … and we step in with financial emergencies, like evictions, insurance or utility cancellations, repossessions and funeral costs, should tragedy occur,” Allen said, adding that she appreciates everything the Catholic community has done to help raise awareness and funds. 

“It is so exciting to see Catholic schoolchildren all across South Carolina giving back to their communities by helping schoolmates and neighbors battling cancer, the No. 1 disease killer of children,” she said.