Family Assistance
The Fans Across America® Charitable Foundation provides personalized Assist-A-Family packages to families with seriously ill and special needs children. Based on the current needs of the family, Assist-A-Family packages can include:
- Non-perishable food items and toiletries
- New and gently used baby and children's clothes
- New and gently used toys
- Furniture and other household items
- Gift cards (i.e. groceries, household products, gas)
- Service certificates (i.e. auto service)
- Assistance for other life expenses (i.e. utility bills)
- Airline tickets / miles for families to travel to distant treatments
And to help the family take a short break from the day-to-day challenges of caring for a seriously ill or special needs child, tickets to a local sporting or entertainment event are included."Without the support of charitable foundations such as Fans Across America, families with seriously ill children would fall into a financial abyss. What once may have been a 'normal life' ends with diagnosis. Parents often have to take extended, unpaid leaves from their employment to be with their children during long hospitalizations and months of complicated treatments. The Fans Across America® Charitable Foundation helps remove a significant portion of this financial burden, freeing families to focus on their child's health."
Gina DeGraw, Social Worker
Phoenix Children's Hospital
The child's physician, treating hospital, social worker or other non-profit organization refers families in need of assistance to Fans Across America. An application is submitted to Fans Across America along with information about the child's illness and a checklist of the family's current needs. Once the application is reviewed and the family is selected for assistance, an Assist-A-Family package is created and presented to the family.
A variety of factors are taken into consideration when selecting families to assist, including degree of illness, referrals and the family's financial status. These criteria do not exclude families, but they do allow us to provide assistance to those families with the most dire needs first.
There are no limits to the number of Assist-A-Family packages a child and family can receive; however, it is our objective to provide as much support to as many families in need as possible.
Please note that until Fans Across America expands into additional markets, we are focusing our assistance efforts in the state of Arizona.