wondersandworries.org 2013 Annual Report July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013 A Letter From Our Board President A Year In Review Wonders & Worries has had a great year, and I’ve never been more proud to be a part of it. Campaigns like Go Big Blue and events like No Worries Classic and What a Wonder - ¡Que Maravilla! were overwhelmingly successful. We have made great strides in infrastructure growth, hiring new staff to expand our outreach and increase our client count in the greater Austin area. But we believe our services should be available to more than just those families lucky enough to live in Austin. With this in mind, we continue to explore possibilities for greater expansion into other metropolitan areas. Only through your kindness and compassion can our organization perform such rewarding work and experience such exciting growth. Steadfast support from donors like you allows our services to remain free to families in desperate situations, including families who are underserved and impoverished. Parents constantly express what a difference Wonders & Worries has made in their lives and the lives of their children, easing a burden that sometimes feels too heavy to bear. The pages of this annual report are intended to provide you with a snapshot of the 2013 fiscal year of Wonders & Worries. We ask that you continue to support our organization with your generous gifts and enthusiastic participation. There are children out there who need help from Wonders & Worries, and we need help from you. Thank you for being a part of our mission! Sincerely, Trek Doyle Wonders & Worries Board of Directors, President 2013 Annual Report Contents 3 The Pickard Family Story 14 Tribute Gifts 5 2013 Financials 16 In Kind Gifts 6 Wonders & Worries by the Numbers 17 How Do Your Gifts Impact Our Mission? 7 Donors 18 Support Wonders & Worries A Letter From Our Executive Director A Story of Hope There is a book we use often at Wonders & Worries called “The Hope Tree,” by Dr. Wendy Harpham. It presents messages from children, fictional but based in truth, 2013 Board of Directors describing their shared experience of a mother diagnosed with breast cancer. Taken Trek Doyle, President Brandy Agnew, Vice President as a whole, the book tells the story of a transformation in the lives of its families. It David Andrus, Treasurer begins as a story of fear and confusion, but through honest expression and shared Susie Davison, Secretary understanding changes into a story of hope. Meredith Bagan Dean Blaine Michael Blue Wonders & Worries is blessed to see this story of hope play out again and again in the Robert Guy lives of the families we serve. This year’s annual report includes the story of one such Kyle Hughes family, the Pickards. Kim Pickard, a mother of two and survivor of uterine cancer, calls Judith Loredo Matt Mathias Wonders & Worries “a lighthouse.” We are humbled and honored to provide the light of Mark Milstead hope for the Pickards and all of our client families. Ana Ruelas Charley Scarborough Dr. Danielle Sweeney There is another story of hope in the pages of this report – that we can expand and Ann Thompson reach a greater number of families. This year, we helped 619 children and family members in the greater Austin area, and we continue to make plans to reach new 2013 Advisory Council families in new regions. We have added five new staff positions, including a program Melinda Garvey, Co-Chair outreach coordinator to increase awareness about the services we provide and gain a Richard Paddock, Co-Chair Paige Amstutz larger referral base. Rosemary Douglass Kevin Hunter As the year comes to a close, we celebrate our accomplishments and express our Anne Lasseigne Tiedt Laura Bond Williams gratitude to those of you who make our work possible. But always, we focus on hope: hope for our organization’s future, hope for growth and greater outreach, and hope for children with a parent facing a serious or life threatening illness, who need a Staff Meredith Cooper, Executive Director “lighthouse” to navigate their own Wonders & Worries. Kim Fryar, Program Director Kathryn Hoyt, Chief Financial Officer Sincerely, Lindsey Boyd, Director of Development Lauren Craig, Communications Coordinator Ali Houshmand, Bilingual Child Life Staff Corinne Jorgenson, Child Life Specialist Michele Martin, Child Life Specialist Adrianna Ortega, Bilingual Child Life Specialist Meredith R. Cooper, MA, CCLS, LPC Maria Patino, Bilingual Child Life Assistant Rachel Petrichenko, Administrative Assistant Wonders & Worries Co-Founder & Executive Director Jacquelyn Rebecek, Child Life Specialist Lara Strickland, Child Life Specialist Kelly Theesfeld, Program Outreach Coordinator Sarah Whitley, Development Associate Lexi Wilkinson, Child Life Specialist Founders Meredith Cooper Melissa Hicks Wonders & Worries 2013 Annual Report │ 2 The Pickard Family’s Story Wonders & Worries is “Wonders & Worries is a refuge. It’s a safe place to be vulnerable, to be sick, -Kim to be real, to take your most precious cargo in life “AParents KimLighthouse” and Andy new schools and Andy started a new job. Things were beginning to settle when and know that it’s in a safe sought help from Wonders Kim received her diagnosis. Philip was place. Your kids are not & Worries in telling their blindsided, he says. “I thought everything was going to be fine now that my dad only safe, but will also be children, Philip and Chloe, had a new job, but when my parents told cared for and nurtured and aged 12 and 9 respectively, us about the cancer I felt sad because taught how to keep them- nothing had really happened like this that Kim had uterine cancer. before, something so serious.” Chloe says selves safe” that when her parents told her about her When Kim was diagnosed with cancer in mom’s cancer, she was scared “because December 2012 she was overcome by -Kim Pickard I thought cancer was really bad, that you many emotions, but first and foremost she could die from it.” thought of her children. “How was I going to tell them? How do you lay a bomb Kim describes how the kids did not want Kim loved all the projects Chloe and Philip like that on your kids?” she asks. A social to go to Wonders & Worries at first. discussed and brought home. The children worker at Texas Oncology brought Kim “Chloe actually hid from Ali [our child life learned about the scientific aspects of a flyer highlighting the services offered staff member] on the first visit. But by cancer, supplementing the cell biology by Wonders & Worries. “I knew this was the end of that first session the kids were Philip was learning in school. Chloe’s something I wasn’t going to be able to completely turned around. I saw how favorite part of Wonders & Worries was manage on my own. We needed help.” their faces had changed. For the first time “the people you do the projects with; in those terrible weeks I saw happiness. they listen and try to understand you. In August of that year, the family Wonders & Worries meant the world to I also liked throwing toilet paper! We experienced a major shift. They moved to our family.” made a target, put cancer in it and threw a new city where the kids each attended 3 │ Wonders & Worries 2013 Annual Report pink toilet paper at it in the back yard at in that time made me feel reassured Wonders & Worries.” because he worked with others in the Wonders & Worries is same situations. Anytime I talked to him “Our kids learned coping he was always encouraging, positive and helpful. I don’t know what we would’ve tools at Wonders & Worries done otherwise.” that they can use for the rest Today, Kim’s cancer is in remission and the “Happy”-Chloe of their lives. Ali repeatedly Pickards are focused on moving forward, reminds us that we’re family strengthening their communication, and coping with emotions as they arise. “We now, forever.” have family movie night, s’mores on the porch, and we get good use out of our Wonders & Worries is Philip describes his favorite aspect of go-cart. We sing and play music at home, Wonders & Worries as “the freedom we with friends and at church. We also love have to talk about what we want. Ali Just Dance!” Kim says. “We try to talk and listens and tries to understand and gives communicate about how we’re feeling.” you a place where you can be open and However, the family still has a long road free. We don’t really ever have this kind ahead of them. “It still doesn’t feel like it’s “Tranquil”-Andy of freedom since we spend the majority over,” Kim admits. “When I have to go for of our days in school and under lots of a checkup it brings up anxiety and all I can rules.” Wise beyond his years, Philip do is try to be real about it. It’s still hard, also expresses that “Wonders & Worries even now, as healing evolves, but it’s good helped us emotionally be able to deal to know that we can talk to somebody.” with all of what was happening to us.” Wonders & Worries is In the course of her treatment, Kim’s ability to communicate with her family “It’s still hard, even now, as faltered. “No one can really prepare you healing evolves, but it’s good in any way for how you’re going to feel to know that we can talk to emotionally,” Kim says. She began to “Hopeful”-Philip withdraw from her family. “I was losing somebody.” the ability to communicate with my children, which was so strange because When asked to choose a single word we’ve always been verbal and open describing how Wonders & Worries made and can talk about anything, but I was them feel, Philip says “hopeful,” Chloe shutting down.