It’s only September, and we’ve exceeded our goal of people we’ve helped this year. This is amazing, because we’ve been working in a complex area that is largely underserved for a number of reasons, one of which is that it requires change in behavior and thinking from a number of different people involved in caring for children and families facing pediatric cancer.
However, we know from our research and from our real world feedback, that having a 1:1 trained peer that is truly impactful for a parent or other caregiver. In fact, you can see a quote from one parent after their first meeting with a Zach’s Bridge peer below.
We’ve started to expand our services to help parents and caregivers that are bereaved. This decision is largely based on the number of requests we’ve had for help from social workers and parents themselves.
So today we are officially announcing the expansion of Zach’s Bridge to help parents facing advanced childhood cancer and those that are bereaved. Our services are the same, 1:1 matched peer connections from a trained, experienced peer.
After so many requests, we knew we had to help out here, and are excited to start to expand our reach. But that also means we need to scale our operations, which of course, requires capital. So we are holding our first ever fundraiser on November 11. If you want to help parents and caregivers in the hardest battle of their lives with support they cannot find anywhere else, to give them connection, guidance and help, then please consider donating or better yet, if you are in Boston, attending in person.