WATSONVILLE—Covid-19 restrictions are keeping many people at home, forcing thousands out of work and making day-to-day chores exponentially more difficult.
Imagine, then, the added challenges facing families whose children are affected by cancer, says Lori Butterworth, founder and director of Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services.
Those difficulties were the catalyst for the creation in 1998 of the organization, which offers a wide range of services to those families. This includes its Full Heart Grocery program, through which volunteers pack and distribute bags of groceries and grocery gift cards biweekly during treatment and for up to six months after treatment ends.
On Thursday, Jacob’s Heart received a $10,000 donation from Kaiser Permanente and the Sharks Foundation, the charitable arm of the San Jose Sharks hockey team. The money will support the Full Heart program.
The donation will serve more than 1,000 people with approximately 2,100 bags of groceries, which is equal to $97,000 worth of groceries, said Sharks Foundation Manager Jenné Johnson.
“What Jacob’s Heart is doing is amazing,” she said. “We’re proud to help them in their mission and what they are doing.”
Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services relies entirely on donations to fund its programs. For information, and to make a donation, visit jacobsheart.org. Donations will be matched up to $100,000 from the Jordan and Kyra Foundation.
