Director’s Report

Director’s Report 2017

This is our 11th year and 11:11 as you may know was special to Christina. She would often say, “Make a wish it’s 11:11.” She did and we should also. For it is in those quiet moments when we place that wish that is most dear to our hearts that we give hope a chance to change reality. I know of far too many families that are fighting this battle with cancer—some are winning, but many have not. For us, our mission is still crystal clear, it’s to help make a child’s wish come true. That wish of not being sick; to just be healthy, go to school; not have to be in the hospital and endure the pain and surgeries, the chemo, the loss of hair, the battle with all the side-effects, never to have children of your own—and this is if you are one of the fortunate survivors. It is for these children and those that we have lost that we continue our mission.
CRF will continue to fund research, for that is how we will beat this deadly disease. But we can’t do this alone that’s why we will continue our efforts with the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2), where we have been bringing other foundations together to leverage our strengths in this fight. Spring of 2018 we will be working to create common grant applications and letters of intentions in order to streamline grant applications for funders and researchers. CRF will be part of a task force looking into hosting a conference examining the psycho-social effects on pediatric cancer survivor and how to best care for them.
This would be structured like our “From the Bench to Bedside and Beyond” conference that we chaired back in the fall of 2016. In June 2018 we will be part of a summit meeting in Seattle, Washington to rally the CAC2 west coast foundations along with the rest of the nation about the most up-to-date data on the cancer front. September we will be heading to Washington, DC to be part of the Rally for Medical Research and Curefest.
CRF continues to play an important role on a national level as we continue to work with the CAC2 to unify other pediatric groups into a single voice with a focused plan to address the research and treatment needs that are so lacking. As we take on this expanded role, CRF needs to grow in new and different ways, and we need your help! Please consider offering your talents and even your business connections. Together we can and will change the future for children with cancer! I hope that you will join us as we continue our wish for a cancer-free world.

May the whisper of an angel’s wish touch your hearts and guide our mission.

Philip Renna

Director

Christina Renna Foundation Inc.