Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance

Navigating the childhood Cancer journey:childhood Cancer families experience financial burden, trauma, isolation, and emotional distress as they fight every day for their Child's survival. Beyond the pandemic, all these stressors were enhanced with additional income loss due to unemployment, food insecurity, and increased travel expenses to treatment centers.in 2022, our family navigator program continued to best address the unique needs of the vulnerable population we serve. Our annual hospital partner roundtable meetings highlighted the need for teen support, connection, and increased financial support. To help reduce the financial strain on families, Keaton's provided 177 families with financial grant assistance. In addition, a total of 648 vouchers to assist with food and/or transportation needs: 324 food vouchers and 324 gas cards. In all, 258 families and a total of 816 individuals received direct support to reduce financial stressors. Family navigator program increases impact:in all, Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance impacted 456 Cancer patients (unduplicated) and over 2,357 individuals with various direct services from our family navigator programs. These services included: family connection & navigation, nutritional aid, joy filled experiences, emotional support, travel solutions, and education support. Family navigator programs enhance supportive services:to best meet the increased demand of program services, Keaton's family navigator team grew by two additional part-time social workers. These former sacramento state interns utilized their training, experience, and program knowledge to increase our capacity in serving 454 families in 2022. The strategic addition of an additional bilingual family navigator increased our connections with hispanic/latino families, the largest minority group served. Caregiver support: creating a pediatric Cancer community remains a priority for the organization. In 2022, we held a private paint night event for mothers of pediatric Cancer patients and re-launched our private parentconnect group, where parents and caregivers share an opportunity to connect with one another in a private and safe social media environment. Stronger together: community Alliance partnersin partnership with California state university, sacramento, contributed over 3,000 hours of volunteer time (1.5 fte) to the project under the mentorship of the program director. Over 200 business partners provided in-kind goods and services that eased burdens experienced by families and advanced Keaton's mission. We cross-refer with numerous organizations such as chicks in crisis, project my own bed, kids helping kids sacramento, hands 4 hope, hearts landing ranch, league of heroes inspired, sevilla magic fx, sutter children's bereavement art group, the pen pal project, virtual sprouts education, campaign one at a time, leukemia lymphoma society, vitas healthcare, churches, national organizations, and family resource centers. We coordinate our service plans with hospital social workers to ensure efficient, effective work and non-duplication of resources.education & workforce pipeline program:in addition to supporting sacramento state bachelor of social work (bsw) interns, in 2022, we had the opportunity to bring in two masters of social work (msw) interns from both sacramento state university, and the university of Massachusetts (umass) global. These interns practiced as family navigators, providing case management to local families impacted by childhood Cancer and helped jumpstart our efforts to build out our "thriving together" program, which will focus on mental health support and wellness. Dare to dream scholarship award:keaton's annual dare to dream scholarship award is committing to supporting childhood Cancer survivors in pushing past Cancer. Through this scholarship award, we granted a total of $5,000 to five (5) pediatric Cancer survivors and hosted a dinner to honor them and their accomplishments. Bereavement support:we provided 26 families grief support from our angel wings program, of which all families received financial assistance with funeral expenses. We provided our signature remembrance boxes, handcrafted wooden boxes filled with grief books, resources, journals, photo albums, and hand-written cards in support of siblings and parents/guardians. Customized support for teens:in 2022, Keaton's expanded the teen and sibling program to a total of 67 youth participating in the program. Keaton's teen Alliance "kta" held five (5) mutual aid support events that engaged youth alongside their peers through social, fun, and therapeutic activities. Keaton's care kits & snack packs:throughout 2022, Keaton's delivered 100 care kits, hospital toiletry sets filled with travel-sized essentials for unexpected hospital stays and long clinic visits. Packages were delivered to hospital partners including kaiser permanente - roseville & oakland, sutter health sacramento, uc davis children's hospital and comprehensive Cancer center. Care kits continue to be included in Keaton's hope chests, customized family care packages, to all newly diagnosed families. Connection as a childhood Cancer community program families express the need for connection and community as they navigate the childhood Cancer journey. Our annual family events and activities create a safe environment for kids to "just be kids" while creating wonderful family memories. These opportunities offer respite for caregivers and therapeutic play for patients and siblings. Family fun dayin spring, we hosted our 2nd annual "family fun day" at gill orchards where a total of 87 program individuals shared in playing games, art activities, egg hunt, and hayrides. Keaton's families enjoyed a private afternoon of respite in the beautiful outdoors setting. Funderland family eventkicking off the summer season, 177 family members joined us for our annual funderland amusement park event. This exciting day offered Keaton's families the safety and privacy to enjoy family-friendly rides, games, arts & crafts, and more. Choosing a disney-luau theme for this year's event, children created their very own leis, and got the chance to take photos with mickey and minnie while dancing along to fun disney tunes. Bringing the disney magic to immunocompromised children that may not be physically well enough to visit a large public theme park.pumpkin patch dayin the fall, we held our 3rd annual pumpkin patch day event, boobash, at keema's pumpkin farm. Doubling our numbers at this year's event, 23 families, totaling 101 individuals, enjoyed an evening of respite and connection in a private area, just for Keaton's families. Children came dressed in their best halloween costume and delighted in activities such as hayrides, pumpkin picking and decorating, a corn maze, petting zoo, and trick-or-treat stations. Operation gobble:as a part of our nutritional-aid program, we supported 34 families, a total of 145 individuals, with a turkey and side items through our annual operation gobble efforts, just in time for the thanksgiving holiday. These food items, along with a Keaton's "thanksgiving cookbook" filled with kid-friendly recipes, were hand-delivered to families' doorsteps, or picked up in our office, giving the team and volunteers a chance to meet with families who were filled with the utmost gratitude.annual holly jolly celebration: our annual holly jolly celebration was a huge success, being back as an in-person event, with more than 317 children and their families in attendance. The event was a magical holiday event which included dinner, music, ice-skating, hot chocolate, craft stations, a light show, goodie bags, and presents for every Child in attendance. Special visits with santa and mrs. claus, and other special guests created a truly memorable experience. We were thrilled to be back in-person with children and their families to spread holiday cheer after so much time in isolation. Holiday adopt-a-family program:thanks to the generosity of 39 community partners, 53 childhood Cancer families comprising a total of 241 individuals received holiday wish list items and support with basic needs such as gas and food. All families were intentionally selected based on their need and impacts of financial strain due the treatment. By providing these special wishes, families were able to focus on creating special new memories with their children. The program continues to grow each year and provides a special opportunity for the community to directly support and greatly impact the lives of childhood Cancer families during the holiday season.

Funding pediatric Cancer research towards cures:another significant part of our mission is funding pediatric Cancer research to advance treatment options. In 2022, we continued to support local and national research projects that will improve patient outcomes and bring us closer to finding cures. In partnership with the st. baldrick's foundation, we successfully hosted 3 community events from which funds raised benefitted local researchers at uc davis comprehensive Cancer center and ucsf benioff children's hospital oakland.