housing solutions for indigent breast cancer patients

thecarolhouse

It's October 2013 and once again Beast Cancer Awareness month. However at The Carol House/Carol Anne Clark Foundation every day of the year is about breast cancer awareness. Please visit our website at www.thecarolhouse.org where, in addition to finding out about our innovative housing relief program you can read the moving and heartwarming story of Carol Anne Clark concerning her fears and consternation upon being diagnozed with stage two breast cancer in November, 2004. The Carol House/Carol Anne Clark Foundation was the late Carol Anne Clark's out of the box vision of forming a non-profit organization fundamentally different from any other and one that (in addition to providing the appropriate nurturing resources) would focus on providing housing relief as a viable and sustainable resource to breast cancer patients and their families who have suffered catastrophic consequences due to a loved one's breast cancer. Carol Anne Clark understood that her innovative housing solutions vision would not be a program for the faint of heart, that it would involve sacrifice, hard work, serious commitment, creative fundraising and the support of one's community. After a valiant seven year battle with breast cancer, Carol passed away on October 22, 2011. However, Carol did not die in vain. Throughout Carol's seven year breast cancer journey, Carol and her devoted husband, Ron, were coming into direct contact with families who were forfeiting virtually all their worldly possessions, (some including their homes) due to the debilitating and accumulative effects of a loved one's cancer. From her days as a Girl Scout, right up until she passed away, Carol had always been an outspoken advocate for those who did not have a voice of their own, especially those most vulnerable in society. This was what defined Carol Anne Clark as a human being, always putting others first, and never seeking the spotlight or any other acclaim. When Carol was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in November, 2004, it came as no surprise to those who knew her, when (despite her chronic illness) Carol once again stepped up to the plate, and became an advocate not merely for herself, but for her fellow cancer patients struggling with the financial burdens of their disease, and who felt abandoned and forgotten. In her attempts to shed some much needed light on the plight of cancer patients and their desperate, unmet needs, Carol embarked on a mission, writing hundreds of letters to just about every non-profit foundation, society and philanthropic institution in the United States. Alas, for the most part, Carol's correspondence was met with a wall of deafening silence and/or indifference. Feeling saddened and exasperated, it was now and even as Carol's breast cancer advanced to stage four that Carol began to explore the feasibility of forming her own non-profit foundation and one that would be founded on three of Carol's guiding principles and/or core beliefs, MAKE A DIFFERENCE TODAY, ONE FAMILY AT A TIME, IN ONE COMMUNITY AT A TIME. Carol sought to level the playing field with respect to the enormous disparity of hundreds of billions of dollars being raised for cancer research by large non-profit institutions while very little resources were being made available to address the desperate and unmet needs of thousands of cancer patients who were falling on hard times. No one had more of a vested interest in a cure than Carol Anne Clark and while Carol understood that a cure would provide the perfect solution, she was also cognizant that a cure was not coming any time soon. The grim fact was that millions (including herself) would continue to die a most horrific death. Carol wanted to see similar, if not the same fundraising efforts made by large non-profit organizations with respect to a cancer patient's desperate and unmet needs. It was Carol's wish and the aspirations of her husband, Ron, to donate their own beautiful home as the first Carol House and make it available to families stricken by the financial fallout of a loved one's breast cancer. Shortly after Carol's passing, family and friends rallied together to pick up where Carol had left off and The Carol House/Carol Anne Clark Foundation was formed in May, 2012. Shortly thereafter, the foundation welcomed its first indigent family, touched by the ruinous effects of breast cancer to their new Rent Free, fully furnished home. With Carol's guidance, we accomplished the implausible and did so without one penny of corporate sponsorship and without any director receiving any form of salary or compensation package. Our perception of running a non-profit of any genre differs greatly from many within the cancer establishment and identifies with Carol's wishes to accomplish great things from one's heart and not for one's wallet. As Carol had alluded to on numerous occasions, too many people have gotten rich off of the cancer industry as a whole and it's not just wrong, it's immoral. Carol also indicated that the bogus arguments proffered by those who receive inflated salaries and compensation packages all in the name of charity are exposed and diminished when compared with the common sense salaries of others running non-profit institutions, including the head of The Salvation Army who oversees a worldwide budget of over two billion dollars and reportedly receives a salary of under one hundred thousand dollars. Good help and good hearts are not as hard to find as many would portray. The reason The Carol House is getting so much attention and gaining so much traction is of course, its innovative housing relief program. However, there is another part to The Carol House Foundation story that is unique and beautiful and it's the moving story concerning the life and times of a compassionate human being by the name of Carol Anne Clark.

Thank you for taking the time to read this posting.

The Carol House/Carol Anne Clark Foundation