ROCKVILLE, Md., July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Kidney Fund (AKF) has received a $250,000 grant from Rockville-based Robert I. Schattner Foundation to support in-person and virtual summer enrichment activities for children with kidney disease and provide financial assistance for residents of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia with kidney failure.
The grant represents the foundation’s largest gift to date benefitting AKF, the nation’s leading kidney nonprofit working on behalf of 37 million Americans with kidney disease, a life-altering chronic condition that imposes significant physical, emotional, and financial burdens on those affected.
The foundation’s grant will help fund the following AKF programs in 2022:
- AKF Summer Enrichment Program:
- Camp All Stars - This year, Camp All Stars will be a special recreational picnic for youth and their parents filled with summer enrichment activities and will be hosted at the famous Camden Yards. Youth will meet other kids just like themselves and participate in fun-filled activities together while in a safe environment with medically trained personnel on-site. It’s a day for kids to feel like normal kids and enjoy activities with other pediatric patients, their siblings, and their parents. Camp All Stars is traditionally a two-day camp and will return to its traditional format in 2023.
- Virtual Camp Activities – Building on the success of the virtual camp program necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, AKF will continue the virtual camp experience, expanding it to include four more hospitals nationwide that care for pediatric patients and delivering 60 virtual camps. Funding from the foundation will provide support for various activities and Chromebooks for youth without computers or tablets to ensure that each child is included and may participate.
- Camp All Stars - This year, Camp All Stars will be a special recreational picnic for youth and their parents filled with summer enrichment activities and will be hosted at the famous Camden Yards. Youth will meet other kids just like themselves and participate in fun-filled activities together while in a safe environment with medically trained personnel on-site. It’s a day for kids to feel like normal kids and enjoy activities with other pediatric patients, their siblings, and their parents. Camp All Stars is traditionally a two-day camp and will return to its traditional format in 2023.
- The Greater Washington Metropolitan Area Safety Net Financial Assistance Program: This AKF program provides grants of up to $250 a year to low-income dialysis and transplant patients to help pay for treatment-related costs that are not covered by health insurance, such as transportation to and from dialysis, prescription copays, over-the-counter medications, nutritional supplements, etc. More than 40,000 people in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia are living with kidney failure, and an estimated 80% of these residents cannot work due to their treatment regimen demands.
“Thanks to the ongoing support of the Robert I. Schattner Foundation, we are able to give children with kidney disease a life-changing experience and help people in the Washington metro area who are living with kidney failure and need financial assistance to afford their medications, fill their gas tanks so they can get to dialysis appointments and defray other costs associated with their life-sustaining treatments,” said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF President and CEO. “We are deeply grateful to the foundation for their generous gift, which will no doubt once again make a lasting impact on hundreds of families.”
The Robert I. Schattner Foundation was established by Dr. Robert I. Schattner, a local dentist, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist who died in 2017 from complications of kidney failure. The Foundation is dedicated to making education and dental care affordable and accessible to everyone.
“On behalf of the Robert I. Schattner Foundation, we are so pleased to continue our support for AKF’s vital programs that provide safety net grants to local residents in need of financial assistance and allow children living with kidney disease to have an in-person or virtual summer camp experience,” said Robert H. Sievers, treasurer of the Robert I. Schattner Foundation. “Through our philanthropic partnership with AKF, we are proud to be a part of making such a positive impact on so many people who live with kidney disease.”
###
About the American Kidney Fund
The American Kidney Fund (AKF) fights kidney disease on all fronts as the nation’s leading kidney nonprofit. AKF works on behalf of the 37 million Americans living with kidney disease, and the millions more at risk, with an unmatched scope of programs that support people wherever they are in their fight against kidney disease—from prevention through transplant. With programs that address early detection, disease management, financial assistance, clinical research, innovation and advocacy, no kidney organization impacts more lives than AKF. One of the nation’s top-rated nonprofits, AKF invests 97 cents of every donated dollar in programs, earning the highest 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator for 20 years in a row as well as the Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid, formerly GuideStar.
For more information, please visit KidneyFund.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
