About Us

List of Jacob’s Heart Board Members

Meet Our Staff

Meet Our Children: Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services is currently in its 12th year of operation.  Over 330 children and their families have been supported since 1998.  Here are a few of our children then and now:

Forever in Our Hearts

Stories

About Jacob’s Heart

Since 1998, Jacob’s Heart has served more than 330 families.

Our families reside throughout the Central Coast region: 48% from Santa Cruz County; 42% from Monterey County; and 10% from San Benito County and South Santa Clara County combined.

All of the families we serve must travel a minimum of 60 miles each way to get to medical treatments at University of California San Francisco or Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto.

Over half of the children served by Jacob’s Heart come from monolingual Spanish-speaking homes. In these cases, families are not only struggling with the diagnosis of cancer, but also with navigating a system in a language other than their own.

Faced with the daunting challenges that come with their diagnosis, these children and their families have overwhelming emotional and financial needs.

All of our funds come from individuals, private grants, businesses, community organizations and local fundraising event; we do not receive any governmental support.

Each year more than 260 volunteers dedicate their time and energy to Jacob’s Heart.

In 2009: More than $64,000 was given directly to families in need, in order to help with household bills as well as to provide prepaid phone, gas and grocery cards; we celebrated 92 birthdays, rejoiced in 9 children completing their cancer treatment, and partied with 45 families at our annual Winter Holiday party; 632 Kid’s Cards packets were mailed out, entertaining and encouraging 60 children on a monthly supportive basis; and during the Holiday Season 46 families were adopted and over 300 children received holiday gifts filling their hearts with joy and their faces with smiles.

Our History

Founded in 1998, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services began to provide support to friends of our founder, Lori Butterworth. When her friend’s son Jacob was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, she observed how little support other families received and was inspired to begin Jacob’s Heart.

Jacob’s Heart supports families by providing bilingual counseling & support groups, resource library & referrals, community education, arts programs, celebrations, and financial assistance. We reduce stress, provide comfort and practical support. We give families a place to feel at home.

The services of Jacob’s Heart extend beyond the child. We believe that by caring for the entire family, we can best support the child; offering support to hundreds of parents and siblings. With help from our community, countless volunteers, and a dedicated board of directors and staff, we are making a difference.

Our Kidrageous Carnival was created as a fun venue to gain signatures and support for our lobbying effort to have the state proclaim September as Childhood Cancer Awareness month. In 1999, Governor Gray Davis issued the proclamation with special recognition of the efforts of Jacob’s Heart!

In 2000, our founder received Oprah’s Use Your Life award. In 2001, we received the Organization of the Year award from the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recognizes our work, naming Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services as a model organization for pediatric palliative care.

In 2006 we began our 8th year of serving families throughout the Monterey Bay area. We moved our headquarters to Freedom and have recently established a satellite office in Salinas.

Jacob, now in his late teens, is doing very well. As our namesake, he continues to inspire us as we grow and continue to meet the changing needs of the families we support. We continue to stay strong in meeting the needs of the local families in our community, serving areas in the California Central Coast that include Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and South Santa Clara counties.