The Care Project is a a Buffalo based 501c3. Our mission is to provide hope and support to families in Western New York with children who are in long term medical care We aim to ease their financial stress by offsetting some of their everyday expenses.
The Care Project was founded by two Western New York families in 2017 and their story is quite unique.
Jennifer and Mark Masse have a son Andrew, age 12 battling brain cancer. They know all too well the stress of mounting medical bills and everyday expenses. When a child is diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, it affects the entire family. Jen estimates that it costs a family over $100 a day in incidental costs just to have a child in the hospital. Gas, parking, food, child-care expenses for the other children at home can quickly add up, not to mention lost wages of taking time off of work to care for a child. At that time, they were overwhelmed mentally and financially. She will never forget when Andrew was in the hospital a few years ago and someone handed her a $10 Tim Hortons card. She was elated! Andrew, now 12 is currently under hospice care at home. The Western New York community has been wonderful and are helping them in many ways.
Family #2
Doug and Patty Clune have a daughter Camryn, age 18 who loves music and helping others. When she was just 9 years old, she formed a fundraising organization called Backyard Broadway. Camryn Clune herself has a chronic medical condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (a connective tissue disorder that affects joints and organs) as well as celiac disease. It was undiagnosed for years and she endured much pain and difficulties. Diagnostic tests, research and natural treatments consumed them as they strived for answers. Although Camryn’s conditions are non life threatening and manageable, her family is no stranger to the mounting costs of out of pocket medical bills. In 2009, Camryn began using her passion for the performing arts to help children and families affected by pediatric cancer. Although she had her own health issues, she wanted to help other families who needed help and were in far worse situations. Doug and Patty embraced her passion and joined her efforts.
Togetherness
In 2014, at the age of 14, Camryn had heard of Andrew Masse - an 8 year old boy who had just been diagnosed with brain cancer. She and her Backyard Broadway team joined together and held a musical event and raised over $4,000 to help Andrew's family with their medical costs.
The event also had an unexpected outcome. These two families, became friends and were driven to help more families in need - together. They teamed up and started raising money for as many families as they could. In February of 2017, they formed an official partnership, The Care Project, a 501c3 that would help as many Western New York families possible with their medical bills due to having a child with a long term illness.
The Care Project helps ease the financial stress that these families encounter so they can focus their attention on their child's medical care. They provide grocery, gasoline, cafeteria, and other gift cards as well as monetary donations to families with children in long term care.
Over the past several months, The Care Project has disbursed several thousands of dollars in gas and grocery cards to local families in need. One local recipient shares their appreciation. "We cannot thank The Care Project enough for the gift card we received! With our son having plenty of appointments coming up next week, the gift card couldn't have come at a better time! We feel so blessed!”
The Care Project’s goal is to help as many families as they can through their own and community efforts and encourage other children, families and organizations to join in and reach out to help others.
