The Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation supports families with children under the age of 18 who have a Mom or Dad have a limited life expectancy, late stage cancer. Cancer does not discriminate; therefore we serve families of all ethnicity, faith, income levels and any type of cancer. Our mission and purpose is treating families to a unique, memorable WOW! Experience that allows the family to enjoy time with each other away from their new normal of living with cancer and the inevitable outlook they must face of leaving behind their children. Past experiences that we have created for families have included resorts, award shows, concerts, The Grammys, The Oscars, American Idol, cruises, theme parks and attractions, private tours of the White House, and other such memorable times together.
JAJF ensures the children and their Mom and Dad capture indispensable memories together as a family that will be both a break from the disease and a return to some normalcy now, as well as a legacy to cherish after the loss of their parent.
JAJF was inspired by Jill and Jon Albert's real life story. Jon found himself, his wife, Jill, and their two young children, facing Jill's Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Jill and Jon realized early on in Jill's fight that the disease was not just attacking her body, but it was affecting their entire family, Jon took his business background and combined it with their drive to formulate something positive and meaningful out of the unfair and cruel. After seeking the advice of experts in the oncology field and completing extensive research, The Alberts discovered there was a critical need to provide a unique, free support resource for families with a parent dying from cancer. From this notion and inspiration, the Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation was born.
Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in June 2006, JAJF treated our first family to a WOW! Experience in October of 2006, just two weeks before Jill Albert passed away from breast cancer. The Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation creates WOW! Experiences for families who have at least one child under 18 who has a Mom or Dad with late stage, limited life expectancy cancer and support the WOW! Experiences Program. We are a single mission organization and specialize in our type of cancer support service.
Despite the advances in research, The American Cancer Society estimates 571,000 Americans died of cancer this past year. Many were parents leaving behind grieving children. JAJF provides support for the families through their WOW! Experiences, which not only helps the parents cope with their end of life journey, but also addresses the psychosocial impact the time together has on the children who are losing their Mom or Dad at such a central and essential part of their development. JAJF is able to positively impact each child and their parents by providing them with happy, strong, recent memories that provide comfort and support on the imminent grieving process.
When a child loses a parent, the memories and experiences JAJF provides become essential to the grieving process. Memories near the end become much more vivid and long lasting and provide an important memory to assist in the long road of grief and healing ahead. The Foundation's Medical Board of Advisors position the organization as "preventative care" by addressing the psychosocial health of the children, caregiver and the patient.
Name of Organization:Jack and Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation (JAJF)
Number of Paid Staff:3 Full-Time, 1 Part-Time
Number of Volunteers:10
Total Organizational Expenses:$1,273,687
% of Organizational Overhead Expenses:16%
By utilizing our in-kind partners resources, we are able to send families on first class WOWs across the country and keep our cash expenses low. This is a model that is unique to our organization, as in-kind contributions are combined with cash and nearly double the value for each dollar we receive. We have hundreds of in-kind partners and are therefore not reliant on any one partner at any time. This also allows us to keep a full inventory of airline tickets, hotels, activities and transportation nationally and not be vulnerable to any one partner or industries success or trouble.
JAJF also has created a unique referral model for our clients. By receiving referrals directly from our national Oncology Coalition, we are able to receive pertinent medical information, family history, and specific conditions in order to create a perfect, customized WOW. We also know that the doctors "prescribing" the WOW getaway gives the patient the necessary approval for them to take time away from chemotherapy and enjoy a much needed break from their cancer. We know this is a very important part of the process as well, since most patients would never take time off when they are fighting for their life. Oncologists have confirmed that the positive, upbeat time away from their cancer is great "medicine" for their spirit and well-being.
From a 12 year old child who was sent on a Los Angeles WOW! Experience with her family:
“As soon as we arrived at the airport in California, I noticed Daniel holding a sign with my family’s last name on it, and a limo waiting outside to take us to our hotel. Just that overwhelmed me. I wasn’t even aware at the time that where he was taking us was going to be spectacular. As soon as we pulled into the driveway at Beverly Wilshire people opened our car doors for us and even knew our names! It was pretty cool and everyone was really nice. Then when Charles brought us to our room I was in awe. I wasn’t expecting such a large and beautiful suite. Austen and I even got our own room with a mini fridge! I was extremely excited and surprised because I never imagined staying in a room like that. It’s most defiantly a trip that I will never forget. And the day trips that were set up for us were very fun. I loved the tour with Tony. He was great and really funny. And I had a great time at the wax museum with my family. Also, the day at Universal Studios was amazing. I got to tour the set of one of my favorite shows, Desperate Housewives! (I’ve been bragging to my friends, and they’re all jealous.) Well I just want to say thank you to everybody who made this trip possible. It really means a lot to my family and me. We needed a family vacation and a break from the stress. We had a ton of fun and my mom was always smiling, so thank you! This was truly a time of our lives.”
From a family we sent on a New York City WOW! Experience:
“Thank you to JAJF...WOW - what an experience. My husband has stage 4 cancer and our family of 5 were sponsored for a trip. We choose New York - and let me tell you - because of JAJF we have wonderful memories. We arrived Thursday night and met at the airport and then driven to our hotel. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. Plenty of room for the 5 of us. On Friday we went on a city tour - which we thoroughly enjoyed. On Saturday we were able to see The Lion King with a backstage tour. That evening we went on a light harbor cruise. We were able to enjoy being with each other in a wonderful city. The memories will be with each of us forever. The kids especially will always have wonderful loving memories of spending time in New York with their dad. They will never forget this trip. We have truly been blessed. Thank you for making this dream a reality. Due to our current situation we could have never been able to do this on our own. Also, to get the kids away from the everyday stress of cancer. It is always in their face - this was a wonderful break that they needed. Thank you for all your hard work...thank you to all that make this possible!!! This organization is truly a wonderful organization.”
Children
Family Harmony
Health
In additional to fundraising efforts, youth volunteers can help JAJF by spreading awareness of our organization. We encourage children to support JAJF by sharing ways that children can spend time together with their family, reaching out on facebook to share our message and the importance of our work and by helping JAJF thank our supporters with handwritten homemade cards.
Name:Lindsey King
Title:Director of Development
Address:3282 Northside Parkway, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA. 30327
Telephone:404-537-5253
Email:LKing@jajf.org
Website:www.JAJF.org