Bounce Children's Foundation

Bounce bash - family events, outings, and adventures specially designed to enable the participation of children with complex medical needs. Bounce kiddos, siblings and parents all come together as an extended "Bounce family". While Bounce kiddos experience a much-needed break from their reality of scary doctor visits, painful therapies, and the grueling side-effects of treatment, Bounce siblings discover they are not alone in their journey, and Bounce parents connect to support each other. In addition to distraction, fun and friendship, Bounce bash events provide face-to-face opportunities to feel safe, accepted, and 'normal' while participating in activities typically off-limits to Bounce members.prior to the covid-19 pandemic and shelter at home orders, Bounce hosted a number of highly attended and well received in-person events, including: ice skating, bowling, newly released movies and live theater events in partnership with the harris theatre at chicago's millennium park, and a trip to goebbert's pumpkin farm. Rapidly responding to a new world order, Bounce re-invented its Bounce bash program to include zoom based family adventures allowing families to participate from the comfort and safety of their homes. Key virtual events included: halloween hoopla party allowing 'ghosts & goblins' to trick-or-treat and celebrate; disco dance party which got families moving & grooving via zoom; imax superpower dogs private screening & virtual meet & greet with the lead dog, henry.

Bounce it forward - never knowing when the next medical crisis will strike, Bounce families do not have the luxury of planning ahead. They miss out on all sorts of high demand activities, including major league sports; concerts; theater; cultural exhibits; special events; holiday shows/exhibits; and other unique productions. Tapping into a network of generous individuals/organizations who 'pay it forward' by donating excess tickets, Bounce members participate in these fun and otherwise inaccessible events. Bounce it forward outings provide unexpected moments of fun and create amazing memories. They restore optimism and lift the spirits of families experiencing the negative emotional impact of frequent medical intervention. In addition, to robust ticket donations during the second half of 2019, Bounce expanded Bounce it forward adding a new way for any and all to 'pay it forward' Bounce style. As the world shut down and cancelled live events, Bounce pivoted and created a series of virtual "meet & greets" allowing Bounce families to hear inspiring personal stories. Featured guests included: mr. george mccaskey, chairman of chicago bears football club, mr. andrew benintendi, boston red sox outfielder, ms. rebecca j. gomez, Children's author, and the shedd aquarium's sea lions.

Bounce back kits - these fun-filled, custom-designed and uniquely themed care packages are sent to Bounce families to offset the tremendous amount of time they spend 'locked in' at home due to their child's medical condition even without a pandemic. These 'boredom busters' typically recognize holidays/important milestones and include fun and distracting items such as: games; books; videos; arts & crafts; stem projects; gift cards; recipes; and more. Boosting spirits for all, they provide joy and resilience building 'inspiration-in-a-box' for the entire family.recognizing the additional extreme stress, and even greater inability to get out of the house, due to the covid-19 global pandemic, Bounce doubled the number of kits shipped in 2019-2020. A total of 1,200 Bounce back kits, themed for "national pizza day, "national super hero day", and "fall into adventure" were delivered. 97% of Bounce families report being satisfied/very satisfied with the Bounce back kit program.

Bounce net - a private and safe online platform for parents/caregivers to form a virtual community of shared support. Parents/caregivers share resources, compare notes, and bolster one another whenever and wherever needed. This virtual safety net is available 24x7x365 ensuring it's there when parents/caregivers need it most. In addition to providing immediate access to a variety of resources and connection to fellow members, Bounce net provides a platform for announcing Bounce it forward ticket opportunities and features replays of Bounce academy education sessions.reflecting the additional isolation and stress Bounce families had to contend with during 2019-2020, Bounce quadrupled the content it offered via Bounce net. New features launched include: motivational monday and thankful thursday. In addition, Bounce initiated weekend postings focused on home activities for families; and Bounce curated educational and inspirational content from around the globe to help families feel connected and supported.bounce academy - education sessions for parents/caregivers to enhance their ability to cope financially, intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically--all while their children are close by. Supervised, safe, and entertained, Bounce kids partake in fun activities that encourage coping and foster resiliency. This eliminates one of the key barriers to parental participation as appropriate child-care is extremely difficult to access. Education topics are selected based on direct input from parents/caregivers and feature subject matter experts for each topic.parents continue to be very satisfied with Bounce academy which earned a perfect 5/5 for helping parents advocate for their child(ren) and an outstanding 4.5/5 for helping parents take action on behalf of their child(ren). In response to the rapidly changing world, Bounce refreshed its parent driven needs analysis to ensure 2020-2021 content was responsive to new challenges.