10/07/2026
"On October 1, we cut the ribbon on The Loft.
There are moments when a ribbon cutting is exactly what it sounds like—a celebration of a new building, a new program, a new chapter.
The day was much bigger.
As I walked through The Loft surrounded by families, friends, partners, supporters, and people who have helped imagine this place into existence, I was struck by something one of our parents said in remarks to commemorate the day:
The audacity.
The audacity of Ukandu to believe families affected by childhood cancer deserve something this extraordinary.
The audacity to be bold enough to ask not simply, “What services can we provide?” but, “What might a child need here? What might their sibling need? Their parent? A teenager trying to figure out who they are after cancer changed everything? A caregiver who hasn't had space to exhale in months? A family learning to live with uncertainty, survivorship, recurrence, grief, or loss?”
And then to build a place around the answers.
That is The Loft."
Read more reflections from Ukandu's Director of Behavioral Health, Dr. Joel Lampert, on The Loft's Ribbon Cutting here: https://www.ukandu.org/blog/the-audacity-of-the-loft
