Mission

The mission of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation is to ensure that children with cancer receive the undivided comfort of their parents during the treatment and recovery process. We achieve this by providing middle- to low-income families with financial aid for rent, mortgage, utilities, and car payments, as well as other supportive services, thereby allowing families to focus on what is truly important – their children.

What We Do 

The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation Provides Three Forms of Financial Assistance
 
1. Full or partial payment of one month’s rent or mortgage
2. Car payment and necessary vehicle maintenance
3. Payment of utility bills to bring past due amounts up to date and avoid possible disconnections.

If financial assistance is not needed, the following services are offered and available to ALL families who have a child with cancer being treated at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
  
• Financial Planning
The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation offers financial aid as well as one-on-one consultations with a professional financial advisor. This advisor helps to assess the family’s financial situation and creates a workable plan to see them through the crisis with their finances in tact. In addition to financial counseling, families can apply for one of the following forms of assistance: rent or mortgage payment; car payment and/or maintenance; or payment of utility bills to bring past due amounts current and avoid disconnection. 
 
• Parent Support Group
These groups, held once a month offering parents both an educational presentation and a place to meet other parents enduring similar situations while providing a uniquely beneficial form of support. These groups will be facilitated by social workers who work for both Cottage Hospital and the Cancer Center . Only another parent with a child suffering from cancer can fully understand the pain these parents must endure, not even the child’s doctor can provide the unique sense of togetherness that comes from realizing they are not alone. 
 
• Care Packages
Care packages are given to families of children who are in the hospital and consist of gift certificates from various local markets and restaurants, toys for the child and his or her siblings, and a Parent Pax. Each Parent Pax contains toiletries including toothpaste, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, deodorant, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a towel; and other helpful items such as a phone card, a disposable camera, and a voucher for food that can be delivered to the hospital. 
 
• Hotel Accommodations
Often, the hospitals at which the children are being treated are miles away from where the families live, making visiting the hospital that much more difficult and costly. Hospitals usually have limited or no accommodations available for this purpose; for example, Cottage Hospital has only five cottages available for the entire hospital, and even a family that is lucky enough to stay in one of these cottages still has to pay $25 a day. This can add up quickly over the course of a several week- or month-long treatment. The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation is helping to ease this financial burden by offering free hotel accommodations to immediate family during an emergency or an unusually extended hospital stay. 
 
• Kids’ Days and Family Fun Events
The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation puts on fun activities for children and their families throughout the year. These “fun days” provide an opportunity for kids to meet other kids with cancer, helping them to feel less isolated, and giving them a fun break from constantly thinking about their treatment. 
 
• Body and Mind Strength Training
Facilitated by the Titan Sports Performance Center, this program is offered to cancer patients between the ages of eight and 21. This program provides fitness and wellness instruction, as approved by a physician, to aid in the recovery process. The program gives children the necessary tools to resume healthy, active lifestyles and the confidence to pursue sports and recreational activities, with or without limitations. 
 
• School  Spirit
School Spirit enlists students of local high schools, to create fundraising ideas. Students will coordinate committees responsible for planning, organizing, promoting, and implementing the actual events. All funds raised will benefit the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. Students are also given the opportunity to earn community service hours by volunteering at our fundraisers, Family Fun Days and in the office. 

• TBCF Storytellers
Twice a week a Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation volunteer go to Cottage Hospital and read stories to the children in pediatrics. Books donated by Cold Springs Scholastic Books and some story telling moms. 
 
• Automobile Donations
Occasionally families need reliable transportation. Cars donated to TBCF are then given to families in need.