Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation

2022 Program Stats1.In 2022, TBCF served a total of 213 families, 925 individuals with all our programs. 2.In 2022, TBCF served a total of 46 families, 179 individuals with our financial stability programs.3.In 2022, TBCF served a total of 7 families, 28 individuals with our educational advocacy programs.4.In 2022, TBCF served a total of 203 families, 822 individuals with our emotional support programs.Financial Stability Program1.Eliminated our original tiered structure to provide each qualifying family the full $5,000 in DFA for families experiencing a pediatric cancer diagnosis. With the tiered structure, qualifying families could access up to $5k, however most families would qualify for around $3,500. This year, every qualifying family received the full $5k. 2.Increased the number of families served with our financial stability programs by 18% from 2021. 3.Served nine families with Bone Marrow Transplant Fund since launching the program in 2021.4.Launched a New Diagnosis Fund of $2,500 as part of our Financial Stability Program for families experiencing a secondary new diagnosis with their child. (For example, originally had leukemia and was later diagnosed with a brain tumor).5.In December 2022, the board voted to budget for qualifying families to receive up to a total of $7k in DFA in 2023. Developed a new tiered structure:a.$5,000 Baseline Minimumb.+ $750 if Significant Loss of Income (20hrs+ per week of missed work)c.+ $750 if Treatment is Longer than One Yeard.+ $500 if Special Circumstances (Immigrated from Mexico, Single Parent Home, Eviction)New Program Grants: American Cancer Society for Gas + Lodging & Starfish Connection 1.Received a $70k grant from American Cancer Society and launched transportation and lodging programs for our families of all income levels. With these funds, we began providing gas cards to cover four round trips to and from each familys treatment location and $2,000 (10 nights at $200 per night) in hotel stays for families traveling long distances for their treatment. Depending on need, we may be able to offer 2nd & 3rd rounds of funding to families in need. We will continue to do so until October 2023 when the funding runs out. We worked alongside Visionality, American Cancer Society, Hearst Cancer Resource Center, St. Johns, Mission Hope Cancer Center, and other medical facilities who have received this grant funding to ensure we built a sustainable program in response to this grant, with the goal of applying for it for years to come. 2.Developed a new partnership with Starfish Connection Foundation who set aside $15,000 in their budget to support our TBCF families through our Bear Necessities Program. Educational Advocacy Program1.Began serving siblings as part of our tutoring program with Grade Potential Tutoring Agency, so that siblings are now eligible to receive bilingual tutoring through our programs. Emotional Support Program1. Family Counseling Groups: a.Increased attendance to our Virtual Family Counseling Groups (Eng Parent, Span Parent, Teen & Kids) by 52%, serving 35 families,152 individuals in 2021 and 53 families, 234 individuals in 2022. 2.Individual & Couples Counseling w/ FSA:a.Launched a new 1:1 Bilingual Counseling Program in partnership with Family Service Agency and began assisting families with one-on-one and couples counseling. Started a monthly retainer with their agency in August and will be working with them each month moving forward. So far, we have served four families with this program.3.Family Connection Events: a.Participated in the Childrens Fiesta Parade and i-Modonnari this year for the first time with our families.b.2022 is the 2nd year in a row the Keiki Paddle selected one of our TBCF Kids as a benefit of their event and selected us as their benefitting charity for $5k each year.c.In 2022, we launched virtual art classes for our Teddy Bear kids which have been a huge success. The kids love it and the entire family joins in as well. Attendance for these classes is typically between 30-50 attendees, and TBCF ships art supplies to each familys home or hospital location for those who do not have the needed art supplies prior to the upcoming class.d.Received 100 tickets for our families to attend Moxi Museum and met with them to create an ongoing program partnership together.e.Launched a Financial Literacy Training for parents in English & Spanish in partnership with WEV (Womens Economic Ventures) and plan to provide more trainings together in the future.f.Provided a Virtual Nutrition Training for parents in English & Spanish over Zoom with a nutritionist referred to us by St. Johns & Cancer Support Community Valley Ventura SB.g.Hosted two holiday party drive through events in partnership with Ridley Tree Cancer Center in Santa Barbara and Mission Hope Cancer Center in Santa Maria. This year, families were allowed to get out of their cars and take pictures with the characters and mini horses courtesy of Hearts Therapeutic Equestrian Center. 4.Parent Advocacy Program & Family Business Directory:a.Developed a new partnership with Give an Hour, a national agency who hosted two cohorts of 6-week training sessions for TBCF Alumni Parents interested in participating in our TBCF Alumni Program in the future. The skills and tools learned in these trainings will help us build a mindful program moving forward. b.Collected data from families who own small businesses with the goal of launching a Family Business Directory. Began hiring TBCF families as vendors for our fundraising events and donor appreciation events. We also hired families as vendors for items to include in home deliveries to our TBCF families as part of our Project Holiday Program. 5.Project Holiday & Care for the Caregivers:a.In 2022, TBCF served 149 families, 653 individuals with Project Holiday Programs, and 92 families, 392 individuals with our Care for the Caregivers Program. In the past few years, we have more than doubled the number of families served with our Project Holiday and Care for the Caregivers Programs. We added home deliveries including Bundles of Love for Valentines Day, Project Mama Bear for Mothers Day & Project Papa Bear for Fathers Day. Our goal is to serve every family currently in treatment in the tri-counties. b.Received an increase in funds for Project Christmas both this year and last year from an anonymous angel donor ($35k in 2021 and $50k in 2022). In 2021, we were able to give $250 in gas cards and $250 in grocery gift cards to 70 Project Christmas families. This year, we are giving each family $690 in Costco gift cards and a one-year membership (total value of $750) which will be a surprise to the parents. This is on top of everything else our 68 Project Christmas families received this year.6.Bear Necessities Program:a.In 2022, TBCF served 161 families, 692 individuals with our Bear Necessities Program. b.TBCF gifted $63,020 in gas, grocery, and hotel gift cards in 2022. This funding does not include any checks the families received through our Financial Stability Programs. Program Partnership Development1.Strengthened our partnership with Hospice of SB and developed a mental health support plan & network for our staff team, led by the Hospice of SB team. 2.Invited Family Service Agency and Hospice of SB staff to join us as mental health professionals at our Gold Ribbon Gala for the In Memorial video to families who have lost a child. 3.Joined VNA Healths cohort of agencies working together to address the needs of pediatric palliative care in Santa Barbara. 4.Continued to build program sponsorships in VTA Communities with VTA Police Department, VTA Fire Department, VTA Fire Association, VTA Southern CA Edison, Amgen, businesses in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, schools in Fillmore, VTA County Girl Scout Troops, individual donors/friends of our founder Nikki Katz and the VCAB Committee, etc.5.Met with SLO County institutions to continue to build upon our relationship with their agencies and began receiving more new diagnosis family referrals from SLO County for our Direct Financial Assistance Program. In 2022, we increased the number of SLO County families served by our programs by 56%. 6.Corey, Brittany & Becca spent a good amount of time to strengthen our relationship again with TBCFs Founder which has been incredibly helpful for our program team in connecting the VTA Community with TBCF, as well as encouraging past TBCF families to assist us in helping current TBCF Families through project holiday sponsorships, deliveries, and other ways. It also provided an avenue of healing for her, which was huge for all of us. 7.Listened to our families and followed their lead as well as the social workers and medical professionals leads for the future of our programs. A lot of our new program launches have been ideas from our families, and we hope to continue moving forward with our listening tours and adjusting our programs as needs are expressed to us.Family Testimonials: 1.My family was