The Valerie Fund treats kids with cancer and blood disorders in totally kid-centric outpatient environments. In fact, we brought pediatric cancer care to NJ 35 years ago and now have seven centers in NJ and NY.

Our kids have diagnoses that range from leukemia to neuroblastoma to sickle cell to brain and bone tumors. The good news is that The Valerie Fund docs, social workers, child life therapists and nurses become a second family to the patient and their family. We focus on the whole family since everyone is affected when a child is seriously ill. They are happy places! Not at all what you’d expect. There is nothing that the folks in the clinic won’t do for the kids. We also have a totally free overnight summer camp for kids who have cancer or the kids who have beaten cancer. It’s a place where a counselor might say, “I know how you feel” and mean it because that counselor is also a childhood cancer survivor. At camp, no one cares about scars or hair or race or age—they are an incredibly supportive community of about 200. We have scholarships, throw huge holiday parties, have free transportation and do a thousand things large and small to make life better, happier for these kids. Some grow up to be doctors and nurses and social workers because of their experience.

We are so grateful to Ant Rich and Bryan Joffe and Mark Partin for finding us through Rey, a 10-year-old patient who’ll speak at the Foundry event tonight. He’s been featured on lots of our literature and even spoke in front of 350 people at our gala.