Children's Cancer Foundation
At this point of our lives we felt compelled by the opportunity to do something for a charity. There are obviously numerous one out there and it is certainly a difficult choice. Two of us being already parents and one strongly involved in youth education and coaching, the option of a charity related to children was making a lot of sense.
CCF's mission is to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families through enhancing their emotional, social and medical well-being.
CCF is an independent organisation, solely funded by public and corporate donations. We have been supported by the Corporate Community, Civic Organisations, Schools and generous individuals who help raise funds for CCF. CCF is a registered a member of the National Council of Social Service, the governing body for Voluntary Welfare Organisations. CCF is also a registered charity and an Institution of Public Character (IPC). The IPC status enables the CCF to provide tax-deductible receipts for direct donations, which are double tax-deductible.
CCF is staffed by a team of trained professionals and has a group of committed volunteers. To date, we have helped more than 1,400 families since 1996 by providing hospital based and community based services. These include counselling, employing therapeutic play, conducting caregiver and sibling support groups, organising recreational activities, offering financial assistance, supporting training and research, and promoting public awareness.
Apart from sponsorship from corporate and non-corporate organisations, the CCF raise funds on their own through fund-raising activities throughout the years.CCF requires an average of 2.5 million dollars per year. About 78% of the funds raised are channeled back to their beneficiaries in the form of Financial Assistance, Casework and Counselling, Therapeutic and Supervised Play, Childhood Cancer Transplant Programme, Parent Support Groups, Educational talks and workshops, Social and Recreational Programme, training and research amongst others.
CCF recognises the important role that research play in contributing to medical advances in the area of treatment and prevention of the illness in Singapore.One of the research initiatives by CCF is to have contributed 10% of the start-up cost for the Singapore Cord Blood Bank, as she recognises the implications this project will have on childhood cancer survival rates. CCF also collaborated with National University of Singapore and KK Women's and Children's Hospital on research projects to determine the psychosocial impact of childhood cancers on families.
About Childhood Cancer
In Singapore, about 120 new cases of childhood cancer are reported every year. Among the type of cancers affecting children, the most common are leukaemia, lymphomas, brain tumours and solid tumours.
These children under the age of 19 have to go through a rigorous treatment regime. Besides the physical pain caused by cancer and its treatment, young patients often feel isolated because of the withdrawal from school and prolong stay in the hospital. Cancer is a debilitating disease that takes its toll, physically, emotionally and mentally, not only on the child but also on the family. We are appealing to our supporters to be part of the caring community to help them cope with their needs at different stages of the illness. We can all play our part to facilitate reintegration of children with cancer back to our community.
