DONATIONS AT WORK HIGHLIGHTS 2025/26
Making hard days a little easier
Thanks to generous community support, critical assistance was available to thousands of families through the Short-Term Assistance Resources (STAR) Fund last year. For families facing financial barriers while accessing care at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, the STAR Fund can be truly life-changing. By helping cover some of the costs associated with hospital stays and medical appointments, the funding ensured families could focus on health and healing rather than financial stress.
With support for necessities such as parking, meals, transportation, fuel and medical equipment, timely relief was provided to families during some of the most challenging moments of their lives.
Over the past year, 2,314 families received a total of $360,430 in financial support.
- Meals: 654
- Prescriptions: 425
- Parking passes: 2,243
- Fuel gift cards: 652
- Grocery gift cards: 528
- Bus or taxi fares: 276
Families also received support for other essential items such as baby formula, hearing aids, car seats, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines and other supplies.
Meanwhile, Family Support Specialists met with families to provide navigation services more than 6,700 times over the past year. In addition to meaningful financial assistance, your generosity has helped ensure these dedicated staff are in place to guide families to available community resources and provide support that creates lasting positive outcomes.
Focusing on Family
“Being a single mom who lives out of town, trips to the Alberta Children’s Hospital have become a regular part of our lives. My daughter has sickle cell disease, and when she has a pain crisis, we often end up staying in the hospital for days at a time.
I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support of families like ours. When life feels overwhelming and all my focus is on helping my daughter get through another painful episode, your support makes such a difference.
Knowing there are people who care and want to help take away some of the stress that comes with being away from home so often. Your kindness has helped us through some really difficult days and has reminded us that we’re not alone in this journey.
When my daughter is hurting, it’s hard to think about anything else. The support you’ve given us has allowed me to focus on being there for her instead of worrying about all the extra challenges that come with frequent hospital stays.
Thank you for your generosity, your compassion, and for caring about families like mine. It means more than I can put into words, and we are so grateful for everything you do.”
— Grateful Parent
Making Memories
“Our daughter had been fighting for her life since the day she was born. She was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and several other serious medical conditions. We spent so much of our lives in hospitals, going from appointment to appointment, procedure to procedure, always hoping for good news, but often facing another setback.
When she was moved into palliative care, my world fell apart. As a parent, you never expect to hear that there may be nothing more that can be done. I was heartbroken, exhausted, and scared. Every day felt heavy. I was trying to be strong for my daughter and my family, but inside, I felt completely lost.
That’s when the STAR Fund came into our lives. During one of the darkest times in our lives, this gave us hope and reminded us that we weren’t alone. It helped take some of the pressure off our shoulders so we could focus on what mattered most, being with our daughter and making the most of the time we had together.
There were days when I felt like I was barely holding on, and that kindness helped me get through. Knowing that people cared about our family made a huge difference. It gave us comfort when we needed it most.
There were days when I felt like I was barely holding on, and their kindness helped me get through. Knowing that people cared about our family made a huge difference. It gave us comfort when we needed it most.
Because of their support, we were able to spend less time worrying and more time creating precious memories with our little girl. Those moments are something I will cherish forever.
Nothing can take away the pain of watching your child struggle, but support from people we haven’t even met helped carry us through some of our hardest days. I’ll never forget the compassion they showed our family when we needed it most.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Your support made a difference in our lives at a time when we felt completely overwhelmed, and I will always be grateful for that.”
— Grateful Parent
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