February 2020

In 2019, JUST TRYAN IT celebrated 10 years of supporting families in treatment for pediatric cancer.  To celebrate this milestone we launched the Doing Good Together campaign with a goal of raising $100,000 to support JUST TRYAN IT and launch us into the next 10 years.  Due to your generous support, we greatly exceeded that goal raising $238,000, for this campaign. Thank you!

JUST TRYAN IT was founded to alleviate the financial burdens that come with having a child in cancer treatment and that is exactly what we are doing.  In 2019, we distributed grants to 181 families in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington DC. Our grants ranged in size from $72 to $2,500 with an average grant size of $1,373.  We also provided 290 gift cards to families in treatment. These gift cards were used for gas and groceries, essential items for any family, let alone one going through cancer treatment.

Sixty-eight percent of our grantees have a post diagnosis income of $48,000 or less.  Many of these families are living on the edge of poverty before diagnosis, working multiple jobs to pay the bills.  Once cancer strikes, they are no longer able to make ends meet. Insurance deductibles, prescription drug costs, and extended hospital stays are additional expenses that take a toll on every family’s budget.  Many of these families are hesitant to reach out for support until it is too late. Our funding enables social workers to be proactive, helping families before they are in crisis.

Our grants are used to cover a family’s basic needs.  Seventy-one percent of our funds were used for housing, mortgage and rent payments.  Hospital social workers report that many organizations they work with have much smaller grant limits, $400-500 dollars, per family.  The fact that JUST TRYAN IT has a grant limit of $2,000 means that we can help families with one or maybe two months of housing assistance, significantly alleviating their financial worries.

I am pleased to share with you our 2019 Impact Report.  This report details how our grant funds were distributed, demographics on our grantees and most importantly the personal testimonies of a few of the children and families we supported throughout the year.

I hope that you will take a moment to review the Impact Report and celebrate all that you have accomplished through JUST TRYAN IT in 2019.    We are deeply grateful for your continued commitment and support.

Warmest regards,

Maureen Colburn
Executive Director