February 8, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 13 please let us know. ECF distributes about 140 bags of food to our families each month. You can help us fill our pantry. When you go grocery shopping and something non-perishable is on sale, please pick up some extra items and drop them off at ECF. Sugar, flour, salt, cooking oil, detergent, pancake mix/syrup, and rice are always needed. You can help in a variety of ways. Consider turning your next event into a fundraiser for ECF, and ask guests to bring checks or gift cards to be used by our families. Your efforts help us to help our families in many ways, including sending a caseworker to visit the families at home or in the hospital. This support for the kids, their siblings, and parents is crucial. Kids are welcome to help, too. Many have held sales or other events and contributed the proceeds to ECF. If your Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troop needs to earn badges, visit us in Midland Park. Scouts can get creative and have fun helping our families as they learn about philanthropy. ECF representatives are available to discuss our programs at your next fundraiser or event. Just give us a call for more information. If you have a few hours a week to spare, consider becoming a volunteer, or just stop by and meet with us, take a look at our pantry, and see what ECF is all about. We are currently looking for a volunteer to help us on Tuesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. or 2 to 5 p.m. Call us at (201) 612-8118 before you stop by. Please do not leave items at the center without checking with us first. Our storage space is limited. The Northern Regional Center is located at 174 Paterson Avenue, Midland Park, NJ 07432. Visit us on the web at www.emmanuelcancer.org. As always, thank you for helping the children and their families! Our hat’s off to the teacher s at High Mountain Road School in Franklin Lakes for their Food Drive. We also thank Maryann Cioffari of Midland Park for collecting 12 bags of food for us at her birthday party. Our Hollywood Bash will be a memory by the time this article goes to press, but we are still busy. We are thinking about some creative ways to hold some fun fundraisers for the spring. If you would like to help us, please call (201) 612-8118, and ask for Laura. We thank everyone who helped us with this year’s “bash.” Meet Brett: Brett was seven-years old when his caseworker, Ilene, first met him. Although he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, he was soon declared cancerfree, which left him dealing with severe health issues that stemmed from the radiation, including a stroke and tissue damage. He was also physically incapacitated from the treatment. Due to these complications, he was on a ventilator to help him breathe, and a feeding tube, rendering him unable to speak or even move much. At the same time, Brett’s dad was also diagnosed with cancer. Tragically, Brett couldn’t hang on any longer, and he passed away just after his eighth birthday from an undetected infection. Meanwhile, dad was going through treatment after treatment as he tried to deal with the loss of his son. Mom and dad tried very hard to hold everything together financially, but they ended up having to file for bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter, Brett’s dad passed away, too. The Emmanuel Cancer Foundation has been there for this family throughout these unthinkable tragedies, and Ilene continues to provide emotional support to Brett’s mom. Brett is also survived by an adoring younger sister, Kelly. Through the regional center, the family has been receiving grocery deliveries in order to help mom with some of her day-to-day needs and to relieve some of the family’s financial obligations. ECF also helped mom pay some bills when she didn’t know where she would get the money to keep the heat from being cut off. While Brett was fighting his cancer, Mom said the one thing she would love to get for the family would be a TIVO system, including the lifetime fee, so they could tape things for the children and Brett could watch his favorite shows when he would return from the hospital. We would still like to provide this to Kelly and her mom to honor Brett’s memory. Please let us know if you can help. We rely on our local community to help support our families. Many of them do not have the financial or emotional support to help them get through a major illness like cancer. We do not charge anything for our services. We rely on you! ECF, which was named for a little boy named Emmanuel who lost his battle with cancer nearly 30 years ago, uses monetary contributions to cover the costs associated with providing free services to any New Jersey child who has cancer. Approximately 70 cents from every dollar goes toward direct care for our families. If your company has a charitable giving program,