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Giving back

Supporting children and their families as they navigate their moms’ cancer journey

Oct 2, 2020

Navigating a serious illness like cancer presents a multitude of challenges. Add raising your children into the mix and life can quickly become challenging. In 2009, cancer survivor Audrey Guth saw the need to support mothers facing cancer. So she created the Nanny Angel Network (NAN) to help their children develop coping mechanisms to help them understand their experience. Volunteer Nanny Angels were assigned to these families for one year to ensure that family routines and a sense of normalcy were maintained as much as possible.

As COVID-19 hit, an entirely new set of challenges emerged for NAN. Because so many immuno-compromised mothers needed to change their daily activities, NAN needed to increase services for their children.

"Because moms were immuno-compromised and family members could not grocery shop and feed their children nutritious meals, we developed a free meal support program so children did not go hungry."

With a $20,000 grant from the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, NAN created a number of new children's programs to help keep them engaged with their Nanny Angels. It also created a food delivery program to ensure that program participants wouldn’t need to worry about keeping their fridges full while dealing with medical and health priorities.

“Because moms were immuno-compromised and family members could not grocery shop and feed their children nutritious meals, we developed a free meal support program so children did not go hungry,” says Founder and Chair, Audrey Guth.

The grant also allowed NAN to continue helping virtually, ensuring emotional support continued for the children. New programs like “Camp in a Box” kept children engaged throughout the summer by giving them something to look forward to each week.

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“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the lives of people around the world – and especially for moms with cancer and their children,” says Audrey Guth. “We could not have sprung into action or adapted our service to help at-risk children without the incredible partnership and support of the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation. Thank you!”

Through charitable organizations like the Nanny Angel Network, we can support families already facing the challenges of mothers battling cancer with a network of wonderful volunteers and dedicated programs to help guide them through this difficult journey.