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Hoefflin Foundation so much more than research

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Contributed by: Carol Rock on 9/7/2007

Scott Schauer is a big sports fan, so it was no big deal for him to attend a recent Dodgers baseball game and take a friend along.

What was a big deal was the conversation that ensued as the men waited for the game to start.

"My friend said he knew I was involved with the Michael Hoefflin Foundation," Schauer said, referring to his executive director position with the 12-year-old charity. "But he didn't really know what we did besides research. It's so much more than research. I told him we've got that we raised money for families who had children dealing with cancer to help them where they've fallen short."

Schauer wasn't surprised that his friend's knowledge was limited. With limited media coverage - so much of the group's volunteer time is taken helping families and raising money, there's not much left over to work the press - he knew that the message needed broadening.

The Michael Hoefflin Foundation was established in September 1995 in honor of young Michael, who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer when he was in kindergarten.

Several different treatments were given to the young boy, but the disease proved too tough to beat and 10-year-old Michael passed away on May 15, 1996. The foundation carries on the hope of his parents, Chris and Sue Hoefflin, as well as his extended family that has many branches in the Santa Clarita community.

Schauer said that the foundation has 260 active families receiving support, both financial and emotional. When a child is diagnosed, volunteers provide the family with a care kit for hospital visits, backpacks that contain a blanket, a notebook, pen and flashlight, a camera, grocery gift cards and parking passes for the hospital where the child is receiving care, such as Children's Hospital, UCLA, City of Hope and Kaiser Permanente facilities in Woodland Hills and Sunset-Edgemont.

It was a backpack that brought Juli Winter and her family into the comforting support of the foundation when her son, Noe Marquez, 9, was diagnosed with classic Hodgkin's lymphoma in December 2006.

"We were at Children's Hospital and they gave us this backpack," Winter said. "It had all kinds of little things in it, but he was fascinated with the flashlight. It made him feel so good and took his mind off the treatment."

She called the foundation offices to thank them for the gift and talked with Kathy Riley, who coordinates family services. Riley told Winter about continuing services that were available during Noe's hospitalization, but Winter, who has six other children, demurred.

"I just wanted to thank them, but they were really concerned about Noe and called me every now and then just to check in. It's so wonderful to have someone call you. I told them there were other people who probably needed more help, but they said they wanted to help us."

Winter, a single mother, holds down three part-time jobs to make ends meet. When Noe was a Children's Hospital, the foundation provided gas cards, parking passes and grocery store gift cards to her for six months.

" We had to stay at the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital for awhile, and it was nice to be able to have food there, especially since I worked a lot less during his treatment," she said.

The foundation also provides emergency support if a family requests help and has covered mortgage or utility payments to help them over a tough patch. Payments are made directly to the billing companies and each family receives up to $10,000 assistance.

When a child loses their struggle, the foundation is there as well, providing a $2,500 bereavement gift. It's not an allotment the foundation looks forward to granting, but feel it's important for its families, which become part of the bigger Hoefflin community during their struggle.

"We've lost 19 this year, including a 2-year-old last Friday," Schauer said.

More important than the financial help is the emotional support provided by foundation volunteers that run twice-monthly group meetings with the focus on families, psychological needs and bereavement.

Family events, such as days with the Galaxy soccer team or bowling at Santa Clarita Lanes, going to the pumpkin patch or Mountasia provided needed breaks and the opportunity to siblings to cut loose and have fun instead of sitting at the hospital or home.

Winter said that the family events helped her children deal with Noe's illness and make new friends that understand the pressures of having an ill sibling.

"We're always looking for new activities, things for the families to do that take their minds off any problems for a little while," Schauer said.

The foundation is also hoping to extend services to children who beat the odds and survive their cancers. A scholarship program is in the planning stages as well as a tutoring program run by college students for younger kids who may have had to miss classes because of treatments.

Most of the funding comes from events such as the Evening Under the Stars, a gala dinner featuring headliner entertainment as well as live and silent auctions. The event, which started out in a friend's backyard, has grown into one of the biggest fundraisers held in the Santa Clarita Valley. Nearly 1,200 people are expected to attend, which thrills both Michael's parents and the foundation staff and volunteers.

The 14th annual gala will be held at the Mann Biomedical Park at 6 p.m.Saturday, Sept. 15. Schauer was proud to announce that more than 800 tickets had already been sold, but there was room for a few hundred more. This year's event will feature entertainment by Lou Gramm, former lead singer of the rock group Foreigner.

For tickets to the gala or information about the Michael Hoefflin Foundation, call (661) 250-4100 or visit the Web site at www.mhf.org.

And if you have some time or talents you'd like to give to the foundation, give Shaunie LeBouef, the office manager, a call at the number above. She'd be glad to put you to work at a job where the pay is priceless.

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