Connor's Heroes is excited to announce its newest program, called Superheroes and Sidekicks™. This program is designed to ease the burdens of treatment by pairing community volunteers with children who are battling cancer, their siblings and their parents. Each of these groups can benefit from friendship, support and companionship.
Kids that are fighting cancer not only feel sick and endure tremendous pain and suffering, they also fight isolation from friends, low self-esteem, and the boredom of long, arduous hours of clinic and hospital treatments. Kids are limited in their ability to play due to suppressed immune systems and treatments, and having a supportive, compassionate friend there throughout their treatments goes a long way. Pairing teens and adults with kids during their cancer journey will help them through the toughest of times, and let them just be kids again. S&S will treat kids to quality time with a mentor who will spend time with them at clinic, the hospital, home, or at any number of special events to play, do crafts, catch a movie or a ballgame, ride a bike, go for a walk or just hang out together.
SIBLINGS ARE HEROES TOO…
Often neglected and overlooked when a child has cancer, a brother or sister suffers too. These super siblings need a friend, a "Sidekick," to reassure them that they too are special and important.
PARENTS NEED THEIR OWN SUPERHEROES…
Parents of kids with cancer have an unbelievable burden thrust upon them that can be overwhelming. Parents need Superheroes and Sidekicks to help them prepare for the journey that they will undertake with their family, and to help foresee as many of the pitfalls and problems as possible. Parents are focusing on the health of their sick child, while all the other obligations of being Mom and Dad are still present. How does a sibling get to sports or band practice while one parent is at work and one is in the hospital or clinic? Who cleans the house to prepare for a sick child’s return from the hospital while the yard needs work, meals need to be prepared, bills paid, and every other errand of the family needs to be done?
Connor’s Heroes will carefully screen and select volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and pair them with their own special Super kid. Volunteers will be trained and supported by Connor’s Heroes, to provide the best experiences possible, and to maximize the fun that the Superheroes and Sidekicks can have.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer in the Superheroes and Sidekicks™ program, please click the "I want to Volunteer" link at the top right of this page. Our next volunteer orientation session will be scheduled in early December. For a more detailed description of a Sidekick's job, click here: SS_Mentor_Job_Description.pdf
Check out Style Magazine's feature in Richmond Giving:
Richmond_Giving_Altria.pdf
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