Jeremy Cares Brings Smiles to Local Families

Helping Families Struggling with Childhood Illness to Keep Spirits High

Jeremy Cares is a nonprofit organization based out of Cleveland suburb Avon Lake, Ohio. In 2008, Vice President and cofounder Mary Kellick’s best friend found out that her son has leukemia and Mary decided to help any way she could.

“My best friend in life,” Mary said, “her name is Debbie George … and her son came down with acute t-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. … Some girlfriends and I rallied together and just started fundraising to help the family, because we didn’t know what else to do. There was nothing else we could do, but we thought, okay, we can help to relieve some of the financial burden. We printed t-shirts and we sold t-shirts. We filled up a mezzanine at Progressive Field. … It was filled with orange t-shirts. Everybody was there for Jeremy, which was wonderful. There was a great outpouring from the community. … When Jeremy thankfully went into remission, [Debbie] wanted to pay it forward.”

Jeremy Cares became an official nonprofit in 2010. “Our mission is that we create moments of joy,” said Mary, “for families who have children who are going through a medical crisis.” The organization has partnered with Ronald McDonald House to sponsor a room at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital so that a family can stay there free for an entire year. Jeremy Cares is now also doing work with Cleveland Children’s Hospital.

Making the Holidays Special for Kids with Cancer

Each year at Christmas time, the Jeremy Cares organization goes to Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital to the immune-compromised ward, where most of the cancer patients are cared for, to give out presents. “We get crazy,” Mary shared. “It’s anything that they want, within reason. We’ve given laptops and Casio keyboards and digital cameras, and the family gets kind of a wish list, you know? Put down what you would like, and we try to get those members of that family anything that they want.”

The 2015 Christmas delivery is coming up, and anyone can participate in helping to make the holiday special for these children. Simply visit www.JeremyCares.org, find the Giving tab at the top of the page and select Wishlist underneath it. This will take you straight to an Amazon page where you can buy gifts that were handpicked by the families Jeremy Cares is gifting this year.

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This interview series is sponsored by Eldercare Professionals of Ohio, where we make your well-being our priority. Our interview series goes hand in hand with that effort, and we hope you find it helpful! For more information on how we can help, contacts us at www.EldercareOfOhio.com, for questions on how to make your home a home for life, visit us at www.CallDontFall.com or call me (Brian Pritchard) at 216-212-7531.

To connect with Jeremy Cares, visit them on the web at www.JeremyCares.org, or call 440-933-9146.

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