Midwest Family Lending has chosen to support The Children’s Variety Club of Iowa in the month of February and we encourage you to as well.
How does the Compassion Fund assist sick children?
- The Compassion Fund provides immediate funding, up to $500, to families of children experiencing life-threatening illnesses. For example, it allows a parent to stay by the child’s side, at some reasonable level of comfort. It helps the child get to all the important life-saving treatment. It allows the child a more comfortable, dignified way of getting home from chemotherapy and radiation sessions. It helps relieve some of the guilt a sick child starts to feel when they see their loved ones constantly suffering and sacrificing on their behalf. The fund is also used to brighten the sick child’s day by buying an outside meal or taking them on some fun diversion away from the needles, medicine and hospital beds. In fact, everything good that comes from the “Compassion Fund” is good for the child’s mental and physical well-being.
- When there are siblings of the sick child, there is often the problem of childcare while a parent stays at the hospital. Even if there is a second parent, they often have more than one job in an effort to catch up with the mountain of bills. Sometimes relatives can help and sometimes they can not. There is also the issue of these kids being somewhat “abandoned” at what is a very traumatic time for them too. There is almost never money available to give these children quality, professional care at a time that they need it most.
How much impact can the “Compassion Fund” really have?
Hospital social workers were interviewed in four states. A common thread in their response was that even the smallest amount of financial help gives a family an emotional boost that lasts for days or weeks. Just knowing that total strangers care about their problems can boost to their determination to find the light at the end of the tunnel. We can help thousands of people see that light, maybe even before the end of the tunnel.
