Coins4kids.org

A friend of mine came across this really great site that is doing an amazing job of razing funds for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation. Click on the following link to take you to their site : Coins 4 Kids There is a link to 'Meet the Kids' where you will see many of the same kids I have links to on the side, and you will find many others that I have not added yet. Neuroblastoma affects so many kids, it's hard for me to keep up.

Want to get a head start on your Holiday Shopping this year? Coins 4 Kids also gives you information about a little known site called iGive.com which donates a certain percentage of your purchase to the cause of your choice and CNCF (Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation) is one of those choices. It's super easy to sign up and you get monthly newsletters telling you about new online stores that have signed up. Stores like the Macys, Ann Taylor, Disney Shopping, Nordstrom and The Children's Place. The list goes on and on, so if you shop at these places any way, why not do it and know your giving to a good cause at the same time?

Anyway..... back to Coins 4 Kids.... I got this little bit from the about us portion of their site.......

Greg & Jon Maher

"Hi, our names are Jon & Greg Maher and we are from Libertyville, Illinois. Before our little cousin Dawson was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, our awareness of childhood cancer was an occasional donation can at a store. We didn't realize the personal stories and the devastating effect that cancer has on thousands of families. Research studies that show promise of finding new treatments and cures are many times left to lapse because there is not enough money to keep them going. Did you know that although many broad cancer societies do great things, very little of their resources go to pediatric cancers? We have founded Coins4Kids to help change this and are working in association with The Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation (CNCF). Donations go to the most promising neuroblastoma research studies."


Amazing that these young men are such giving of their time to this wonderful cause. It is wonderful that they are spreding the word to raise money for pediatric cancer. Here are some facts below...

Did you know?

The American Cancer Society provides only 1.85% of dollars spent on research, to be spread over all 12 types of childhood cancers. (*July 2005, Research Department, American Cancer Society, Inc.) Following is an excerpt from a newspaper article written by a Neuroblastoma Father:... if you had donated $100 to Relay for Life hoping to show your support for the honorary chairpersons, $12.50 would have gone to research adult cancers, while only 70 cents would have gone to childhood cancer research. How much of that 70 cents would be for neuroblastoma research? None! "...."If you see a bald child suffering from cancer and feel compelled to help cure childhood cancer, please research organizations that put children first and support those organizations."

In the past 20 years, only one new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use. Only 3 percent of the budget from the National Cancer Institute goes towards Pediatric Cancer Research. September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month, which nationally goes largely unrecognized. The government recently cut the budget for Childhood Cancer Research.14,000 children will be diagnosed this year with cancer. Currently there is between 30-40,000 children being treated for cancer in the US. Pharmaceutical companies fund over 50% of adult cancer research, but virtually nothing for kids.

Pediatric cancer research does not receive nearly as much funding as adult cancer research projects. Neuroblastoma research dollars are scarce as most money is diverted to well-publicized adult forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate.

Historically, advances in pediatric research have yielded treatment models and genetic information that greatly benefit adult cancer patients. (This is well documented by professional research cooperatives like the Children's Oncology Group); the reverse is not always true.