2016 saw the launch of The Jennie Foundation as non-profit organization, dedicated to the memory of our daughter and sister, Jennifer LePera. Our mission is to help families of seriously ill children undergoing treatment at local hospitals cope with the financial burden this brings. We also raise money to award scholarships to local students, in the fields of nursing, music, and culinary arts.
Thanks to your generosity, we have awarded almost $800 in grants to the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital Family Resource Center and the Ronald McDonald House of the Greater Hudson Valley. These grants purchased basic toiletries for incoming hospital patients and their families, gift cards for gasoline and the hospital cafeteria, activity books and crayons for the emergency room, and newborn clothing for infants who had only hospital gowns to wear. We were also able to sponsor the equivalent of a 15-day stay for Ronald McDonald House guest families who could not afford the modest donation the House requests. Our goal for next year is to be able to provide the full cost of the stay, not just the guest family portion.
As an ongoing event, the Foundation provided the “Jennie Day” dinners on the 15th of every month, for both the Ronald McDonald House of the Greater Hudson Valley guest families, and also to the families, doctors, nurses, health aids, and technicians of both the Pediatric Intensive Care units and the Oncology wards of the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.
We also visited the Ronald McDonald Houses in Philadelphia, PA, and New Haven, CT, to see first hand the wonderful work being done there. We hope to be able to expand one or more of the 2017 Jennie Day dinners to these facilities.
Finally, we were able to set aside $1000 for The Jennie Foundation Scholarships, to be awarded in 2017.
None of this would have been possible without you. The burden and hardship these families face is unimaginable, and your contributions help ease their struggle. We would like to share a note we recently received from Mary Delany, who is the coordinator of the Family Resource Center at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.
I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude for all the Jennie Foundation has done to help the patients and families here at Maria Fareri. Last month I gave the preemie clothes to the nurse manager at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. When I gave them to her she told me she had babies who needed the clothing that day and was most grateful.
That is the case with everything you have provided – the gas card that arrives when the tank is empty, the cafeteria card when the Mom has no money. All arrive at just the right time. Thank you for everything!
We would like to thank Ms. Delany for allowing us to share her kind words with the people who made it possible. We ask for your continued support in 2017, to allow us to fund this ongoing work. The need is real, and does not go away.
Checks made payable to The Jennie Foundation may be sent to:
The Jennie Foundation
71 East Main Street, #332
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Donations may also be made with PayPal on the Foundation’s website, www.jenniefoundation.org. The PayPal option will also accept credit cards for those without a PayPal account.
Thank your for your past support and future consideration. We wish you a peaceful and healthy New Year.
Susan LePera, President
William LePera, Vice-President and Treasurer
Joy LePera, Secretary