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Often, through the
efforts of "the club," families' financial needs are also met.
This helps to relieve some of the stress of parents at a time when their
child should be their only concern.
Members of the Hugs and Hope Club
organize fund-raising benefits for families in financial need; and the
group connects families with children’s charities and other
organizations that offer help to pediatric cancer patients. Jordan
considers the Hugs and Hope Club "A link between the families and
those who can meet their needs." The club and its founder were
recently honored as "Angel of the Month" on the Her Angels.com
web site. The recognition goes to individuals and organizations that do
outstanding work to help children.
Jordan has always
cared about sick children and tried to help them. After she became
disabled due to Lupus, she decided to organize THE HUGS AND HOPE CLUB in
order to network with others who wanted to help too. The site is located
at www.hugsandhope.com, and featured on it are pictures and stories of
sick children. Many of them are terminal. Jordan asks visitors to the site
to mail cards and small gifts.
The website features
children from all over the world and receives hundreds of hits each day.
The chat group allows families to communicate, sharing ideas and
encouragement.
The Hugs and Hope
program relies upon the support of individual volunteers and sponsoring
organizations: the people who write to the children as well as those who
donate to the cause in other ways.
Musicians contribute
tapes and CD's of children's music, publishers donate books, quilters and
sewers send blankets, dolls, and teddy bears.
"Anyone can
help," Jordan said. "Whatever your talent, you can somehow use
it to benefit suffering children or their families. Whether it's creating
graphics for the website, organizing benefits to raise medical funds, or
just sending an encouraging note to a discouraged parent or a Barney video
to a child undergoing chemotherapy, it all helps; and it all makes a
difference in the lives of these children."
Author, Marsha Jordan, is
Founder of The HUGS AND HOPE FOUNDATION for Sick Children; the website is
no longer functional, though. She is a
disabled grandma who lives in the north woods of Wisconsin with her
husband of 26 years and their toy poodle, King Louie, who rules the
household with an iron paw. Once an active volunteer in many scouting,
school, community and church activities, Jordan was an energetic
homeschooling mom who also worked as a secretary until her life took a
sharp turn. Her busy schedule came to a screeching halt when she fell
victim to an auto-immune disease which struck her blind for several
months. Through her
Hugs and Hope Club, Jordan strives to send a message not just to suffering
families, but to all people that we don’t have to face life’s problems
alone.
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