ALONG COMES HOPE CORPORATION

The goal of Along Comes Hope is to provide financial support for the cost of travel & accommodations for families of children with cancer. ACH will provide assistance to a parent & child that qualifies for financial assistance. ACH will assist these families to receive assistance in the cost of their accommodations & travels to & from the hospital facilities while their child is going through cancer treatment therapy.

Due to the small percentage of government funded research being allotted to pediatric cancer research, less than 4%, the Institutes that have progressive treatment protocols for children are further & fewer between. These facilities are also much more spread across the country than that of adult cancer so our children have fewer choices for treatment. In order for children to have the best fighting chance to beat this disease they need to be able to have access to travel to the Institute that has their opportunity for best survivability. Many are forced to have sub-standard care due to proximity of where they live having no access to afford to travel to receive the level of care that could save their lives. Some children get to travel to receive the life saving care but have to sacrifice the ability to have a parent by their side due to the cost of that parent traveling with them & staying nearby during their treatments. That is a dilemma we hope to remove from every family that is in need of our financial assistance.

The vision of Along Comes Hope can be met in the short term as well as the long term. We are dedicated to continue to will work meet and exceed the following goals:
-Improve the healing journey these children are facing in order to ensure that they can afford the cost to travel to a hospital that allows them the best possible chances to survive.
-Remove finances from the evaluation of treatment with what a family can afford to have access to for their best chance to survive.
-Remove the barriers of pediatric cancer care treatment due to proximity of progressive care and affordability to travel for that care.
-Increase awareness of the need for more government funded research & budget to be allotted to pediatric cancer research. This would assist in 3 ways, in an increase in the level of care around the nation, an increase in the number of Institutes that can care for these children on a more local level and a decrease on the need for many to have to travel for appropriate treatment.

We are exceeding our expectations with our emotional support programs as we have served all requests that come through for assistance.
Additional funding will allow us to provide assistance to more families overall within our travel assistance program.
We are applying for special grants and looking for foundations that will support expenses associated with travel. Many programs/grants specifically state within the guidelines that they do not support travel. This is the crux of the program in helping these families get to the location that best treats their cancer. This is a teaching opportunity for ACH to inform the needs of the cancer community.

-Diverse group of Board members within different locations, backgrounds, experience and networks.
-Diverse levels of personal experience within the cancer community and bringing more non-cancer people into the circle due to inspired passion to help make a difference.

-Systems software implementation to assist the growth and support our infrastructure to manage donors, manage growth, manage events.
-Grow our staffing beyond volunteers