Registration has also closed for the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon (formerly known as the Chicago Distance Classic). This event will take place on Sunday, August 2, 2009,and features exciting new changes, including live music along the beautiful lakefront Chicago route. The Evanosky Foundation raised over $19,000 from this event in 2008. Please click here for more information.
The Evanosky Foundation's House of Hope, an apartment available to families of children using the services of the Duke Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Program and the Neurodevelopmental Function in Rare Disorders Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, celebrated its grand reopening on December 21, 2008, when it welcomed its second MLD family. The House of Hope was briefly unoccupied when its first MLD family "graduated" and released by their doctors to head home. While the apartment was empty, it underwent major changes, including the installation of laminate hardwood flooring, designer furniture, and wall art. To see photos of the dramatic improvements, please click here.
Due to the dramatic success and the overwhelming demand for housing for post-transplant families, The Evanosky Foundation recently opened a second House of Hope, and has tentatively scheduled the opening of a THIRD House for July 2009. You can help stock our newest House with the household items needed to make it a home away from home for families of post-transplant patients. Click here to find out more!
The Evanosky Foundation recently contributed $2,500 to the Duke Pediatric Blood and Marrow Program's Family Support Program to help purchase and install two new washers and dryers for the 5200 unit. The laundry equipment will be used by the parents and caregivers of patients receiving treatment on the unit who cannot leave the hospital floor.
Bob Evanosky, Executive Director of The Evanosky Foundation, discussed the importance of these washer and dryer units. "Having been on the unit with Jack for roughly 40 days, it was imperative that the parents had laundry facilities within arm's reach daily. To think that I may have been required to leave the hospital every couple of days to do my laundry, or worse yet, pay an expensive laundry service to do my laundry is unfathomable. During that inpatient stay, Jack needed me every minute. I am thankful The Evanosky Foundation was able to contribute through its Family Support program to this endeavor and thereby help transplant families through a difficult but promising time regarding their children."
Lindsey Kearns, Director of the Family Support Program says, "They look and work great and are such a wonderful addition!" Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, Director of the Duke Children's Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant department stated that "our patients spend an average of 55 days inpatient, so this purchase will be extremely helpful and much appreciated by our families as they care for their child during treatment." For more on The Evanosky Foundation's family support efforts, please click here.
The Evanosky Foundation was recently nominated and approved for inclusion on the IBM employee charity list, which includes more than 4,000 not-for-profit IRS 501(c)(3) health and human service agencies. IBM employees and retirees can now designate The Evanosky Foundation as their charity of choice and donate a lump sum or scheduled amount via payroll deduction, personal check, or stock. In addition, The Evanosky Foundation has been added to sanofi-aventis matching gift program. Employees of Sacramento County, California also have the opportunity to select The Evanosky Foundation for their Employee Giving Campaign!
On November 5, 2007, Illinois bill SB1566 became a law! This is the bill that we have been working on that will make Illinois the first state in the country to test all newborns for five fatal childhood diseases -- Pompe, Krabbe, Gaucher, Niemann-Pick and Fabry. With early detection, children affected by these diseases have the opportunity to be cured and live a much better life.
It was very appropriate that this bill became law on November 5, 2007, which was John and Christopher's 6th birthday. The timing and passage of this bill was definitely something that was laid on our hearts by God, and even though we were told this would never pass, doors opened and things happened that allowed it to occur. Please join us in giving thanks that needless suffering for many families in the future has been eliminated! Click here for more details on SB1566!