November 7, 2019

In honor of Mattie Miracle's decade of service, Friends of the Foundation hosted a Champagne and Oysters Celebration, at a beautiful home in Alexandria, VA.  This was the first fundraising event that was planned for Mattie Miracle, without Foundation involvement.  There were 80 attendees and the event was a wonderful way for sustaining and new supporters to learn more about Mattie Miracle's mission, achievements, and psychosocial vision of care.  

Greetings were given by:

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Victoria Sardi-Brown, Co-Founder & President

Dr. Aziza Shad, Chief of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital at Sinai

Adina Levitan, Mattie Miracle Child Life Specialist

Dr. Lori Wiener, Director of Psychosocial Support & Research Program, NIH 

Peter Brown, Co-Founder & CEO

Ann Henshaw, Board Member

Brett Thompson, Board Member

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Click Here to read the greeting delivered by Mattie Miracle's Co-Founder & President. 

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Special Thanks to:

Debbie and Peter Keefe

 & the Host Committee

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November 15, 2019

Mattie Miracle's 9th Annual Post Halloween Candy Drive was a huge success.  We are deeply grateful to all of our candy contributors who are comprised of individuals, 38 schools, and 47 community groups and businesses.  

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This year, 18,000 pounds of candy was donated to Mattie Miracle.  Thanks to our volunteers, this candy was inspected, sorted by type into Ziploc bags to preserve the candy for our recipients, and delivered throughout Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  The candy is intended to provide a sweet treat to family members caring for children with cancer.  Specifically, a good portion of this candy is used to stock our two Mattie Miracle Snack and Item Carts.  One Cart is located at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC and the second Cart is at Children's Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore, MD.  

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This Drive provides a year's worth of candy for our Carts.  The Carts are pushed three times a week in the in-patient units of the Hospitals and offer free candy, nutritional snacks, drinks, and toiletry items to families.  Families are deeply appreciative to receive these basic items because it is very difficult to leave their children's bedside to try to meet their daily needs.  

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There were 18 Recipients of Mattie Miracle Candy this year:

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Washington, DC
1.    MedStar Georgetown University Hospital 
2.    Ronald McDonald House
3.    HSC Pediatric Center 
4.    Children's National Medical Center
5.    Covenant House

6.    Sasha Bruce

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Maryland
1.    Children’s Hospital at Sinai, Baltimore
2.    Hackerman Patz House, Baltimore 
3.    Ronald McDonald House, Baltimore 
4.    Children's Inn at NIH, Bethesda 
5.    Nourish Now, Rockville

6.   St. Ann's Center for Children, Youth, and Family, Hyattsville

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Northern Virginia
1.    Ronald McDonald House, Falls Church  
2.    Special Love for Children with Cancer, Winchester
3.    Pediatric Specialists of Northern Virginia (PSV), Falls Church
4.    Embry Rucker Community Shelter, Reston
5.    Cornerstones, Reston
6.    United Community Ministries, Alexandria

May 19, 2019

The 10th Anniversary Walk & Family Festival was a grand celebration! We had over 400 people attend, 38 sponsors, 300 individual donors and had a beautiful weather day.  The funds raised from the event allow us to (1) Endow a Psychosocial Research Program, (2) Funding Child Life Specialist Positions, (3) Support multiple In-Patient Snack Carts, and (4) Operationalize Psychosocial Standards of Care Nationwide.   We thank all of our supporters for their decade of commitment, loyalty, and generosity.  Please watch the video for an idea of how the event went!

Spring 2019

Adina Levitan is the Mattie Miracle Child Life Professional at Children's Hospital at Sinai (Baltimore, MD).  We are proud to support Adina's position as she enhances treatment outcomes and the quality of life for children with cancer and their families on a daily basis.  We welcome you to view our recent three month overview which highlights our funded child and family focused interventions.

February 28, 2019

At the 16th Annual American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) conference in Atlanta, GA, Mattie Miracle awarded Dr. Kimberly Canter (Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science in Wilmington, Delaware) with our first Early Investigator Award.  The Foundation has partnered with APOS to create implementation grants.  Grants to produce clinical tools and models that will enable the implementation of the Psychosocial Standards of Care at treatment sites around the country.  

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The $10,000 Mattie Miracle Early Investigator Award is a distinguished honor that was granted to Dr. Kimberly Canter.  Dr. Canter's research proposal was selected from an impressive group of 12 proposals by a scientific review committee.  Dr. Canter's study is entitled, Community Implementation of a Psychosocial eHealth Intervention for Parents of Children with Cancer.  eSCCIP (the Electronic Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program) is a brief, cognitive behavioral and family systems eHealth intervention for parents and caregivers of children with cancer.  This funded study will be a community-centered pilot test of eSCCIP, in partnership with Life with Cancer in Northern VA, and will focus on evaluating intervention feasibility and acceptability, as well as key psychosocial outcomes (posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and family functioning).