Dear Donors,                                                                                        

As one can imagine, cancer treatment is not only emotionally and physically exhausting, it can quickly become financially debilitating.   Many times, patients have to take a leave of absence from work while undergoing treatment or in worse circumstances, they are in advanced stages of cancer and are no longer able to work at all.  Not all patients qualify for disability and even those that do, often have to reapply before they are approved. A procees which can take weeks and sometimes months.

Many of the patients we assist are on the verge of losing their home, having their power cut off and are unable to put food on their table.  While there are programs out there that offer assistance with prescriptions, treatments, wigs and medical supplies, there are few resources where a patient can turn for help with their day to day expenses.  No one should ever have to face these challenges, much less, when they are facing the battle of their lives.  In 2008, our Founders decided to form The Giving Garden Foundation to serve the rural patients of Gloucester and Mathews Counties after witnessing the dire need for advocacy at a grass-roots level.  If you are from a rural area, you know this means - limited resources.  Our mission is and continues to be, to provide financial assistance to patients who reside in either  Gloucester or Mathews Virginia and to bridge the gap between resources that exist, and our local patients' unmet needs.

While the majority of our assistance is indeed for basic living expenses such as rents, mortgages, utilities, fuel and groceries; there are ocassions when a patient has an uncommon need.  Because we are a grass-roots organization, we can tailor the assistance we provide on a case by case basis.  This small-community approach has allowed us to extend assistance for lodging and fuel expenses when local patients travel for a consult, our volunteers have rallied together and physically assisted patients with moving their belongings from one home to another, we have held food drives and we have Volunteers who are professional stylists who donate their services and will travel to patients homes to provide haircare.  We have provided school supplies and clothing assistance to children of struggling patients and this October we were afforded the rare opportunity to donate a vehicle to a family who had no means of transportation. 

Our volunteers are ready and dedicated at a moments notice to provide our time to help others, however no matter how much time we are able to give, without financial contributions such as yours, none of this would be possible.  We extend our heartfelt appreciation to you for your support!