‘Outpouring of kindness’: Season to Share readers lift lives of struggling families

A community’s generosity lingers nearly five months after the season of holiday giving. The funds collected for The Palm Beach Post’s Season to Share charity drive from Thanksgiving weekend through early 2024 helped lift burdens, spirits and the lives of families and individuals in need.

In all, Post readers donated $488,289.86 to the most recent Season to Share campaign in the nonprofit effort’s 28th year.

Here’s what it meant for Maria Sanchez, a 38-year-old cystic fibrosis patient and double-lung transplant survivor who was in need of life-saving medications and equipment:

“I am humbled by the outpouring of kindness during this trying season in my life. Transplant is a blessing but it requires very intense care. … ” Sanchez, a West Palm Beach resident, said in a letter to The Post. “So far, I was able to purchase my electric wheelchair which has been a huge help in aiding my consistent participation in life!”

For 4-year-old cancer patient Amy Galeano of Lake Worth Beach, reader kindness offered her family a sense of security. Thanks to Season to Share donations, her nominating agency (Kids Cancer Foundation) paid rent for the Galeano family for one year. It was a boost for a family that was devastated by the child’s diagnosis of acute lymphocytic leukemia, a potentially fatal cancer that impacts bone marrow and blood.

But there was another house that brought a smile to the girl — a fully furnished dollhouse complete with resident dolls, a gift from a Season to Share donor. Amy received the handmade gift at a celebration to mark the end of her chemotherapy treatment.

“It makes such a difference to be able to provide the support to families like Amy’s and give them a chance to get back on their feet financially. It helps both financially and emotionally for them to know there is a light in the tunnel after their long battle with childhood cancer,” Michelle O’Boyle, founder and executive director of Kids Cancer Foundation, told The Post via email.

Also in Lake Worth Beach, 13-year-old Sakura Hernandez and her family received a great boost from generous readers. The funds received were sufficient to buy a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for the teenager and her family, according to Bella’s Angels, the nonprofit that nominated Sakura for Season to Share.

“This is life-changing for Sakura and her family. Because of this grant, the worry has been taken out of their mind about if they are getting to the next therapy or (doctor) appointment. They truly are grateful for the community support,” Bella’s Angels executive director Deborah Jaffe said via email.

In Riviera Beach, a young brain cancer patient and his family could continue to enjoy their home, thanks to reader donations.

Caedyn Jynella, a spunky 5-year-old boy battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, could continue to play with his brothers and their dog Zeus at home. The boy’s nominating agency, Cancer Alliance of Help & Hope, used Season to Share donations to make mortgage and car payments and pay for utilities, food and fuel.

“The family is no longer in danger of losing their home. There are no nights when Caedyn, his brothers, his mom or his dog go hungry. And the family is not threatened with losing vital utilities,” a representative for the charity told The Post by email.

For Tiffany Pinkney, a 32-year-old mother of two battling the potentially fatal Huntington’s disease, received Season to Share help in the form of rent, housing costs, food costs, furniture, phone service and other items.

“While the health outcomes are still scary and uncertain, receiving significant, unanticipated financial and community support has had a profound effect on this family’s well-being,” wrote a representative for nominating agency Adopt-A-Family in an email to The Post.

Nominee and double-lung transplant patient Maria Sanchez says her life has been changed as well.

“I am eternally grateful for the ‘movers and shakers’ — even the ones I will never even get to meet. I am alive today because of a selfless act and can continue thriving because of your generosity and prayers.”

Kids Cancer Foundation founder O’Boyle echoed the gratitude:

“We are so grateful to Season to Share. They truly are a blessing to our young patients and families.”

How Season to Share works

All Season to Share donations, which are made via the Community Foundation website, go to helping nominees via their nominating agencies. Once the nominees’ needs are met, the charitable agencies can use the funds to assist other needy families within their agencies. Season to Share funds are not to be used by the agencies for administrative purposes.

The reader-donated funds are managed and distributed to the agencies by the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin counties, a respected philanthropic presence for more than 50 years.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Post charity, readers help struggling families get help