John and I are are extremely proud, and excited to announce that we have started "Tammys friends" Inc. Tammys friends is a legal non profit charity that helps young families who are experiencing life altering medical hardship. Concentrating on those families with young children and whose household income has been drastically affected by hardship. Tammy and I have seen first hand how losing more th
en half of your income can forever alter your life, so we want to help others in a variety of ways - from mowing their lawn or grocery shopping, to helping them with their bills. In 2008 the two of us were leaving Ireland cancer center after one of Tammy's treatments. He was waiting for either a ride or we think Laketran (the bus). As we walked by it effected us very much, we talked about it all the way home, and how much cancer sucks, that having to wait for a bus after treatments just made us think even more about how so many people have no one to go through it with. So many people affected by illness have so many different support systems. Some have people on the ready to do whatever it takes and others have people only sometimes. Some people have no one. Even with the greatest support system in place, it isn't enough sometimes to cover all the needs that actually come up when an illness occurs. That's when Tammys friends was born - we came home and purchased www.tammysfriends.org
(which will hopefully be up and running shortly)- but with all that was going on in our lives we kind of sat on the idea and thought about how it could best achieve our vision for it. Friends help friends in small ways to enormous ways. That's what we are, friends helping friends. Some people may just need a ride to treatments or appointments or a hug and a walk to the park to talk, others will need more. Sir Winston Churchill once said: "It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required". That captures our vision for Tammys friends. There are many noble charities out there that do so much for research but tammys friends is a GROUND FLOOR CHARITY - meaning that we will hold hands, share tears, give hugs. Speaking from experience some people are uncomfortable with help (I most certainly was) that's why we intend to help different people in different ways. Fully built out we hope to help 80 - 120 families a year however a great,modest, first year may be 3-6 families. Tammy and I know how profound just being there for someone can be, and saying "I don't know what to say but I'm here for ya" and actually having someone be there for you and maybe not say a word. Below is a short list of ways Tammys friends will touch peoples lives in a way that humankind was meant to. From the very basic -
Mowing the grass and basic yard work
family organization or reminder help
Rides to and from treatments and appointment
Sitting with them during treatments
Basic housekeeping and laundry
taking walks and listening or holding a hand and just being a presence at a time when that is so very important
To the more substantial -
Assisting with everyday expenses
Assisting with children, be it childcare, help with homework, rides to and from events
Assisting with paying school fees, lunch money, special event and field trip fees
Grocery Shopping, with them or for them - using their money or Tammys Friends money
fixing meals or organizing a plan to have volunteer meals or purchased meals brought in
as a long term goal we would like to be able to set up college funds for children of families who have been effected by illness
Tammys friends has been helping a local family for a few months now (sort of unofficially and the flyer for the fundraiser is attached to this e mail) but it is now time to branch out officially and make Tammys friends all it can be. As you know non profits are not owned by anyone, Tammy and I are the founders and board members and for the immediate future Tammy will serve as the executive Director. We will be in need of many more people to fill a variety of positions in the future as we grow out. We have Incorporated tammys friends as a non profit corporation, We have obtained an employer identification number, and have filled out the 501 (c) 3 application. There is still a lot more to do in the way of Government fillings as well as a computer and software for non profits and volunteer database management, and a website etc.... (much more) (there are many organizations that help out non profits in those respects thank goodness)
So we are asking for your help and for you to ask any of your friends or neighbors or colleagues or connections or employers to help us out. Please! So that we can achieve our mission of: Touching the lives, in a positive way, of young families affected by life altering medical hardship. The levels of help or commitment can vary to virtually anything you are comfortable with. From maybe just helping out once with a charity event or maybe a specific family, or helping with a specific family from the beginning to the time when they no longer need tammys friends assistance, to being an integral part of tammys friends in every way, to donating financially so that tammys friends can do what's required in helping others. Essentially tammys friends is just that - a group of friends helping friends - fifty years ago this organization may not have been needed, but in today's world, it is desperately needed! If you have the means or the desire please consider making a donation of your time or a financial donation. We are also looking for a local person to help us make some technical decisions about web sites and software etc. After all that's what friends are for. Checks can be made payable to tammys friends inc - 1865 North Ridge Rd Suite B - Painesville Township - Ohio - 44077 or in the next couple days donations can be made directly to tammys friends at any USBank location. Receipts will be provided for all donations. E mail us at this address for the time being if you want to donate your time or skills but in the future look for e mails coming from [email protected]. Volunteer forms and logistical forms will be available soon. We are personally thanking you from the bottoms of our hearts in advance for your generosity, and caring toward helping friends (people like you and me) get through a most difficult time with a little less difficulty. Friends like you will make tammys friends and all those we can reach out and help much better off.
