FOR A DAY FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
The For a Day Foundation is committed to creating emotionally therapeutic experiences for seriously ill children - and providing them and their families with a joyful and much needed diversion from the strain of chronic treatment. We provide healthy distractions for both inpatient environments and outpatient opportunities.
About This Cause
The For A Day Foundation was founded in 2000 as a 501(C)3 non-profit organization, providing social support services to pediatric oncology patients and their family members across the United States. We serve communities through a national network of local chapters, 15 at present, directed by volunteers. Through our themed hospital parties, we are in collaboration towards the successful treatment of the disease and improving the child patient’s quality of life. In 2019 we served 834 children throughout the US. Since our founding 20 years ago, we’ve served over 8,000 children! Childhood cancer threatens every aspect of the family’s life and the possibility of a future, which is why optimal cancer treatment must include psychosocial care. According to the Association of ChildLife Professionals, "Opportunities for play are necessary to allow for healing, expression and to keep kiddos meeting their developmental milestones especially when their environments present hurdles and trauma." For this reason, the For A Day Foundation has developed a project to respond to the needs of these children who go through the symptoms of pain and to help them manage their fears and phobias of the treatment, as well as to support them through the long-term effects of the cancer treatment. We provide opportunities for wellness and development while taking careful consideration of the patients’ unique characteristics, including developmental level, preferences for social interaction, and health status. Typically, we host themed parties in hospital playrooms, like Queen & Hero for a Day, where patients get to simply be a kid again. Play is an integral piece of a child’s healing and development, and as we experience the increased need of our services, we are testing additional programs like Pirate and Chef for a Day. We extend this service to include directly supporting entire families through our family experiences programs. FADF volunteers arrange special outings for families, taking away the stress of planning and the worry of costs, so they can spend priceless time together. Essentially, FADF tries to bring back what cancer took away: a normal childhood. COVID-19 has altered our original program plans and we’ve pivoted to a quick, effective answer to the situation laid upon the vulnerable hospital population of immunocompromised children: sending STEM activity kits to support their education and emotional support. The kits are developed to be self-contained and self-guided, containing activities appropriate for various age ranges. We diversify our shipments to provide for an age range of 3-16 years. Allegra, a manager at Texas Children’s Hospital wrote, "The KiwiCo boxes have been great! They are very engaging for the kids. I personally love that the boxes are allowing the kids to engage in STEM activities. The boxes facilitate engagement in higher-level thinking, without them even realizing that they are learning! The kids are loving creating, designing, and having fun!" Nicole, a manager at MD Anderson Cancer Center wrote, “The Kiwi Crates are great! The families really like them because they not only have the specific activity listed on the box, but also a couple of smaller tangential activities too, so it keeps the kids busy for a longer amount of time. Families also really like that the crates have an educational component, so they feel like they’re slipping something school-like in while the kids only see the fun. In a time when lots of parents are being asked to “homeschool” this is a really nice feature! From our staff perspective, amidst the COVID situation we have been forced to move to single use activities for our kids to limit the amount of exposure they are getting to staff and to any materials coming in and out of the rooms. To be able to give a child an activity that is theirs to keep, and doesn’t have to come back out of the room to be cleaned and passed to another child, is an additional layer of safety and security we can provide the families in these uncertain times. As our kids are all severely immunocompromised, this is a huge win for us. I hope that you will share with your supporters how much we appreciate their, and your, efforts on behalf of our patients. We know that healing the body is only one piece of curative medicine – healing the mind and heart are equally as important. Donations like these help us keep kids developmentally, emotionally, and socially on track during one of the hardest journeys they will ever take in their lives. We appreciate you!”