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$700,000 Granted to Families Since Creation
Runway to Hope provides direct assistance that is desperately needed by children and families affected by pediatric cancer. For these families, the promise of a future cure isn’t enough. They need help today.
We currently operate a Family Assistance Program 365 days a year. Our goal is to sustain this program for years to come by increasing the amount of families served each year.
The Runway to Hope Family Assistance Program has policies and procedures that allow for the cutting of bureaucracy in order to grant emergency assistance within 24-48 hours. With continued financial contributions to Runway to Hope, we will be able to sustain the monetary assistance and make a greater impact within our Central Florida pediatric cancer community.
Runway to Hope grants the most emergency financial assistance for mortgage and rent payments to help keep a roof over our children and their families during their pediatric cancer journeys. The next highest spend we have is car payments so our families can continue to get to and from treatment. Sadly, a close second to car payments are funeral expenses. Runway to Hope is honored to help lessen the burden of financial expectations for families during the loss of their child to pediatric cancer.
Updated as of 9/13/2022
Our organization assists with many other financial burdens that families navigate as well, such as gas to and from treatment, utility payments, and grocery assistance. In 2020, we expanded our Grocery Assistance Program by partnering with Second Harvest Food Bank to bring groceries directly to our families. This program not only reduces extra money spent by the family, but also their time grocery shopping as we are able to do it for them. You can read more about that partnership here.
Currently, Runway to Hope is committed to serving families battling pediatric cancer in Central Florida at one of our three local children's hospitals: Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, AdventHealth for Children and Nemours Children's Health or living in one of the seven counties considered to be part of Central Florida. There are special circumstances where families traveling to or from one of our Central Florida’s children hospitals for treatment are also reviewed.
Since inception of the Family Assistance Program in 2014, Runway to Hope has granted over $740,000 in direct financial assistance as of September of 2022. This means over 500 individual families were granted financial aid. Due to the long nature of some pediatric cancer treatments, some families have qualified for assistance more than once. Almost 600 applications have been approved within eight years. We are incredibly grateful to say that this program survived the pandemic and although still recovering, is making it's way back to average numbers hopefully by the end of this year.
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the entire family suffers. Often one parent has to quit work to care for the child, dramatically reducing the family’s income. Medical expenses and other bills mount quickly; the stress can overwhelm parents and children alike.
One of our team’s favorite responsibilities is to provide extraordinary events for our kiddo’s to attend, away from hospitals & treatment centers. Giving them a night to remember and be celebrated by those who love them bring our hearts so much joy. We have several events throughout the year, like our Bloomingdale’s Bash Weekend, Spring Soiree, and Sparkle & Shine 5k, to name a few.
Our families’ needs are endless and solely funded by philanthropy. We would not be able to provide the financial assistance, support, and FUN that we do without all of YOU! Thank you to all of our supporters for your unwavering support.
