How we do it:

When no other resources are available, social workers at our affiliated children’s hospitals send us urgent requests on behalf of single parent families in financial crisis. We respond immediately and without additional paperwork, because their social workers have already verified their need. The variety of requests range from essentials, such as food, transportation, utilities, and medications not covered by insurance to funds to protect a family from eviction or foreclosure.

We respond in 24 hours “when compassion can’t wait.”

Our River enhances and sustains lives in many other ways. We will advocate for airline tickets for a grandparent coming to help, or buy a wig for a self-conscious teenager returning to school after chemotherapy, or pay for ballet lessons for a neglected sibling. Instead of restriction, we give as freely as our River will allow. Contributions keep our River flowing. Please click below to make a gift.

Why we do it:

The sudden onset of a child’s life threatening illness would devastate any family. For a single parent with rapidly dwindling finances, it is unimaginable.

• How is it possible for a single mother to go to work every day while her sick child is in constant and urgent need?
• How can a single father carry on his work, when all he wants to do is to make sure that everything possible is being done for his child?
• How can single parents afford to give up their source of income and jeopardize their health insurance?

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of families whose child is diagnosed with a critical illness will experience divorce or separation. The ordeal of a child’s grave illness tests these families far beyond their endurance, and they become bankrupt financially, emotionally and physically. While we cannot cure a child, we can help them cope and soften their heartbreaking journeys.