About the Sunshine Kids Foundation
The Sunshine Kids is a national non-profit organization dedicated to children with cancer. The Sunshine Kids Foundation is a 501 © (3) organization and is audited annually. The funding sources for the Foundation include private, corporate, civic clubs, philanthropic foundations and memorial donations.
Established in 1982, we are committed to providing positive group activities and emotional support for young cancer patients. The Sunshine Kids provides a variety of programs and events, free of charge, for kids who are receiving cancer treatments in hospitals across North America.
Mission
The Sunshine Kids Foundation adds quality of life to children with cancer by providing them with exciting, positive group activities, so they may once again do what kids are supposed to do . . . have fun and celebrate life!
Goal
We look forward to the day when The Sunshine Kids Foundation will no longer need to exist. Until that time, the entire Sunshine Kids family is dedicated to providing the most exciting activities, trips and events for as many young cancer patients as possible.
“I finally got to meet kids who were going through the same things as me. I felt like I wasn’t alone.”
Katrina Ellis, Sunshine Kid
History of the Sunshine Kids
The Sunshine Kids Foundation was founded by Rhoda Tomasco in 1982 while she was serving as a volunteer in the pediatricbcancer unit of a hospital in Houston, Texas.
After seeing the loneliness and depression among children during their extended Hospital treatments, Rhoda had a vision to provide these young cancer patients with opportunities toparticipate in positive group activities which promoted self-esteem, personal accomplishment and just plain old fashioned fun!
Today, that vision has been realized many times over, as thousands of children from hospitals across the country have reaped the benefits of The Sunshine Kids Foundation’s many programs and national and regional events.
Funded by personal contributions, corporations and foundations, the Sunshine Kids continues, as it has since its inception, to provide all of its activities completely free of charge to thechildrens families and hospitals.
"I didn't know that one week could change my life the way it did"
Amy Ehret, Sunshine Kid
