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Friends of Karen
Our Vision
Every child with a life-threatening illness, and his or her family, will have all that they need to keep them stable, functioning, and able to cope.
Our Mission
The mission of Friends of Karen is to provide emotional, financial and advocacy support for children with a life-threatening illness and their families in order to help keep them stable, functioning, and able to cope.
We started in 1978 with one family; one child, Karen MacInnes; and one inspired woman, Sheila Petersen. Since then, we have assisted more than 18,000 children and their families.
Our Core Values
Compassion
We were founded out of the kindness of one friend toward another.
We are inspired by that same spirit of compassion, striving to bring hope into the lives of the families we serve, our colleagues, donors and providers of support services in the community.
Dedication
We recognize dedication as the fabric of our work, driven by our passion to help others and our commitment to our families, volunteers and donors.
Respect
We respect our Friends of Karen families, donors, volunteers and all those we interact with in the community for their individuality, cultural backgrounds and diversity. In our workplace, we respect each other’s roles, expertise and experience, and support each other professionally.
Integrity
We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards by allocating resources fairly and maintaining the confidentiality of all those we work with.
We communicate honestly and clearly with the goal of a satisfactory outcome for all those we work with. We abide by the rules of state and federal law and follow through on the commitments we make to the best of our ability.
Impact
We are motivated by our ability to make a meaningful impact on both the immediate and long-term well-being of the children and families we serve.
We use our experience and resources to directly influence the emotional and financial stability of families and in turn their communities and other sources of assistance.
Volunteer
Our volunteers come in all sizes: children, teens, young professionals, retirees, and all ages in between. We even have multi-generational families who volunteer! We’ll match your time and talents to programs, projects and needs that enable Friends of Karen to support families.
Here are a few examples of volunteer opportunities:
- Participate in our Holiday Adopt-a-Family Program. Fill a child’s holiday wish list, hold a toy drive, wrap, pack and ship gifts.
- Collect new school supplies and backpacks and spend a few hours during the summer at our North Salem office packing everything up for a family.
- Put together Birthday Bags, including candles, party plates, napkins and a small grocery gift card for refreshments.
- Help keep our North Salem headquarter’s grounds looking beautiful – you can come individually or schedule a group clean-up day. Seasonal flower donations such as mums are welcome.
- Become a corporate partner – designate Friends of Karen as a “core” charity for your employees. Learn more about Corporate Partners click here
- Create a company team – host fundraising activities and volunteer projects in your workplace Download Info Card
- Serve on one of our event committees or advisory boards.
- Help us at events – registration, event photography and more.
- Provide admin or computer support in one of our offices.
- Collect new coloring books & crayons or new storybooks for our hospitalized children.
- Write or design for one of our publications.
- Do projects for Community Service requirements.
Submit your Volunteer application and we’ll get in touch with you to discuss a meaningful involvement.
Questions?
Email Allison or call her at (914) 617-4054.
On Long Island, Email Lexi Latino or call (631) 473-1768.