Parents telling their children to “Go outside!” may have been the battle cry of previous generations, but these days encouraging families to spend time outdoors can be a little more complicated. Urban environments, safety concerns, and busy schedules can conflict with families’ desires to spend time in nature. Many parents see the difference between an […]
At six months pregnant, Courtney Williams of Palm Beach County, Florida, was in a dark place. Pregnancy complications forced her to stop working at the job she loved. At home, her partner abused her. “I felt like I was dying inside,” Williams recalls. She suffered from depression and PTSD, which also threatened the well-being of […]
When a grandmother enrolled her 9-year-old grandson, whom she is raising on her own, in day camp this summer, she was hoping to give him a positive outlet to build friendships and confidence, in order to improve his mental health issues. Unfortunately, he did not know how to swim, and the camp did not offer […]
When Patti and Steve Winegar sat down with their planner in 2017 to sketch out their financial legacy, they had two priorities: long term tax strategy and “giving more intentional, larger gifts to our core charities.” Patti was about to sell a company, so it was an important year to consider taxes carefully. And the […]
A child should worry about making the soccer team, learning to drive, or what to wear to prom. Not whether they’ll lose a leg or whether the chemotherapy that’s about to begin is largely the same treatment doctors have relied on for decades. Yet for hundreds of children and teenagers diagnosed with osteosarcoma each year […]
The caregiver list was already out of date the day Ronna Larsen got it. A caseworker had handed her a photocopied sheet of local caregivers, and one by one, the numbers on it led nowhere: offices that had closed, agencies no longer taking clients. Larsen’s mother had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and Larsen, […]
Summer always seems to move faster than expected, even when the days themselves can feel long. And as its end comes into view, the feelings that come with it can be complicated. Packing bags for day camp. Organizing activities for your children. Fielding endless requests to do something fun. Navigating family vacations — or the […]
The first thing parents remember about the day their child is hospitalized usually isn’t the diagnosis. It’s the questions that follow: Where will we sleep tonight? How long will we be here? How will we take care of our other children? How can we afford all of this? For one family, those questions came two […]
Ebony had a new apartment, five kids counting on her, and nothing to put inside it. No beds, no table, no place to land after a hard day. She had a roof, but what she didn’t have was a home. A caseworker referred her to the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB). A few weeks later, Ebony […]
Not too long ago, London Booker was driving through Rochester when something made him stop. In an abandoned lot, a group of kids was running lacrosse drills, fully equipped, calling out plays, and moving with confidence. He hit the brakes, put the car in reverse, and asked what they were doing. Their answer surprised him. […]
