With star power including the likes of NFL players Tony Gonzalez, Matt Cassel and American Idol David Cook behind your charity, how can you go wrong?
Such is the good fortune of the Shadow Buddies Foundation, a local charity that provides comfort and companionship to children who are battling illness, disability or chronic disease.
Founded in 1995, Shadow Buddies provides emotional support through education.
This is accomplished primarily through unique programs designed to enhance the lives of children and adults and promote compassion and acceptance of differences among people regardless of physical health and abilities.
The heart of Shadow Buddies lies in their design, creation and distribution of condition-specific “buddies,” cloth dolls that represent a wide variety of health conditions, treatments and disabilities.
There are dozens of buddies, intended to be “a friend just like me.” The Vision Buddy has glasses, the Heart Buddy has a red heart embroidered on its chest, and many buddies are dressed in hospital gowns. There are also buddies designed for older patients like the Breast Cancer Buddy complete with pink ribbon.
The condition-specific buddies are distributed worldwide to patients who are in need of comfort and understanding. The dolls are helpful in educating newly diagnosed children and their families about a particular disease or medical condition and its treatment.
To date Shadow Buddies has distributed more than 800,000 dolls to all 50 states, 172 hospitals and 16 countries.
Former Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez became involved with this specialized charity shortly after joining the team and integrating into the Kansas City community. When Gonzalez departed for the Atlanta Falcons, his commitment to Shadow Buddies remained. Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel adopted the charity as one of his philanthropic causes along with hometown hero David Cook.
Shadow Buddies celebrates its 15-year anniversary in September and will be marking the occasion with its “A Kid at Heart” benefit gala on Monday, Sept. 20, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.
A Monday event is unusual but strategically chosen so Gonzalez and Cassel can attend without missing a day of practice.
The event begins at 6 p.m. and will feature both silent and live auctions, dinner and special surprises.
Individual tickets are priced at $100 with corporate sponsorships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
Enticing items include a spectacular trip to Las Vegas and the chance to win a diamond and ruby tennis bracelet by participating in Bubble for Baubles. For a $100 donation, guests will receive a limited edition champagne flute and be entered to win the $3,000 wrist candy.
To learn more about the Shadow Buddies Foundation or attend the annual gala, visit www.shadowbuddies.org or call 913-642-4646.
