Our mission at Patches of Light is to assist families with children facing catastrophic health issues and financial hardship. Our goal is to keep families together, and focused, during their child's diagnosis, hospitalizations, and hopeful recovery.
NOTICE
Starting today, November 11, 2024 we will not be accepting any new applications until January 2025.
Any applications submitted before that date will not be processed until January 2025.
Important Notice for Application Submissions:
Please be aware that we only accept applications submitted directly by the child's current medical professional. Additionally, the child must be critically or terminally ill to qualify. Applications submitted by parents, guardians, or other individuals will not be considered. This requirement ensures that all necessary medical information is accurately and thoroughly provided for the benefit of the child.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Upcoming Events
Books written by Mindy Atwood
The Boy in the Golden Cape
Jason and Billy are forever friends. They do everything together-until Thanksgiving break one year, when Jason doesn't come back to school. Billy tries to visit his friend, but he's turned away at the door. Jason can't have visitors because he's sick. He has a disease called cancer.
Billy doesn't understand why Jason doesn't answer their clubhouse messages anymore, or why he can't go to visit his best friend. But he knows that Jason needs his friendship and love. With the help of family, friends, and his community, Billy shows what being a best friend really means.
Every year, over 10,000 children are diagnosed with childhood cancer. Talking to kids about what that means is important, but it can be difficult, too. The Boy in the Golden Cape is a tool to help parents navigate that challenge. It approaches the subject in a child-friendly manner, while stressing the importance of compassion and acceptance.
Do Bears have Belly Buttons?
"Grandma, do bears have belly buttons?"
Alexis asks lots of remarkable questions. Usually, Grandma knows the answers to them, but even she doesn't know if bears have belly buttons. Grandma takes Alexis to the zoo to meet Dr. Merry, who answers Alexis' question and teaches Alexis and Grandma about mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
Do bears have belly buttons? Let's find out!
The Zipper Club
It's summertime, and everyone is having fun at the pool. Everyone except a young boy named Mike. He has undergone open-heart surgery and is nervous about showing his scar. Will the kids at the pool make fun of him? His friend Emma sees his worry and comes up with a plan to make him feel better. She enlists their pals to join in, and with the help of an artist who draws scars on their chests, they create the "Zipper Club."
The Zipper Club is an inspiring story of friendship, empathy, and confidence told through rhyme. Join Mike as he learns that through acceptance and understanding, we can all empower others to feel self-confident.
Celebrate by Giving
Be the light this holiday season. For 24 years we have believed in the light and tried to be the light for families with children facing, and undergoing, treatment for a catastrophic health/injury diagnosis.
When my son was diagnosed with cancer it was on December 13. Sitting in the hospital in shock, praying desperately for a miracle, missing my other three children, torn because it was the holidays and that was the last thing I could focus on for my family, always resurfaces during December.
I also remember sitting in the lobby of the hospital with my little one and looking around at all of the children sick, weary, yet smiling, listening to the Christmas music of a local choir and I wondered, "Why my child?"
I will never have the answer to that question, but my answer to others is to make sure that each and every day, whether a holiday or not, a family can be together, focused on their child, during their treatment and hopeful recovery. Especially during the holidays.
Let your heart be a light for families in need and give them a chance to once again believe in the light.
Believe in the Light, Be the Light.
Oh What Luck - You Found a Duck!
Patches of Light assists families across the US and beyond. We are trying to get our mission out to the areas we assist and need your help. If you are heading out of town and would like to "deliver" some ducks to areas we assist, please let us know! It's as easy as placing a rubber ducky on the postcard we already have made up and dropping into a "pond." Our ponds are the areas we help in and need to get our name out to those communities for their support. I would LOVE to pack a bag and cruise into all of the areas we help in to share our mission, but in reality our little ducks would be a better option. If you are traveling and would like to be a part of our Patches Cruising Ducks please let me know and I will get a "Pond Package," ready to go. If you already live in an area we help in I will also be happy to send you some to pass out in your own community. Thank you!
As Mother Teresa once said, "“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
Sibling Support Survey
Nearly a quarter-million children are siblings to children living with serious illness. A variety of physical, emotional, social and psychological concerns are presented when a brother or sister is diagnosed with a serious illness or disease. Support services for siblings are critical to promote positive outcomes and decrease negative consequences and align with parents’ desires to support all of their children. These include services offered to the sibling or family to provide comfort or enhance the quality of life during a child’s serious illness. Despite national standards, sibling support services are often difficult for families to access.
The aim of this survey is to determine the availability of support services for siblings and the path to which a family can access these support services.
Support Patches of Light
How to Help
There are many ways in which you can help Patches of Light, and the families we assist. First and foremost our goal is to help families remain with their sick child during treatments, hospitalizations, and recovery. This is accomplished primarily by paying past due bills, buying groceries, gas cards, etc. Fundraising, donations of gift cards, and financial donations all help us to accomplish that goal.
If you are interested in donating monetarily please click on the DONATE button below or on any of our pages. Your donation is tax deductible and greatly appreciated and needed.
Mindy Atwood - Founder & CEO
"Dare to reach your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light."
--Norman B. Rice--
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Mindy Atwood.
Mindy is passionate about using her story for good and helping others feel more hopeful in challenging times.
Read her story her story HERE
2023 Annual Report
Our Supporters
