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H.O.P.E.: Honoring Our Peers Everyday
Bringing HOPE to those who are important to you through H.O.P.E.: Honoring Our Peers Everyday!
In the paragraphs below, please find the WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHEN and WHERE about H.O.P.E.: Honoring Our Peers Everyday!
Sign up today to participate in this 55-minute virtual class at no cost where you will learn the basics of childhood cancer and
how to explain it to others.
WHY
Are you looking for the words to describe childhood cancer to your child and his or her friends, your extended family members, or members of the your child’s sports, club or team? Children’s Cancer Network can help!
Cancer is a scary subject. Children’s Cancer Network wants to make sure that you, your family, and those close to you understand not only the basic facts about childhood cancer, but also have access to tools to explain childhood cancer in an age-appropriate way to those who are significant in your world. H.O.P.E. can ease the anxiousness and worry that you may feel in having to explain things over and over.
Participation in one of Children’s Cancer Network’s 55-minute H.O.P. E. classes is open to you and those you value in your world. You will learn the words to help others to understand your journey when you feel the time is right. Perhaps it is within weeks of diagnosis, or when your child heads back to school or their clubs. . . the timing is up to you. You may choose to attend one of the virtual classes yourself and then decide who in your world might benefit from attending and when the time might be right to make that happen. This 55- minute class gives the power and control back to you in this difficult and heart-wrenching situation.
WHAT
Honoring Our Peers Every Day, or H.O.P.E. teaches everyone who is part of your village, family, sports teams, troops, schools, dance teams, church groups, or group of friends, what this cancer journey is all about for you and your family. At no point are details about your child’s specific cancer or treatment discussed.
H.O.P.E. gives a glimpse into the general realities of this cancer journey that you did not ask to be a part of, but nonetheless find yourself in the midst of as you search for your new normal.
Centered around two short videos, “What is Cancer?” and “Cancer is the Worst,” H.O.P.E. offers three components – education, compassion, and action – that together build understanding and lifelong skills of respect and acceptance for all people in school and the community.
The first video, “What is Cancer?,” shares age-appropriate basic knowledge about childhood cancer while the second video, “Cancer is the Worst,” allows the participant the privilege of seeing into the hearts and minds of cancer fighters who are battling this life changing disease. All videos are positive and share information in age appropriate ways. Responses to these videos have been extremely positive from all ages.
Developed in 2016 and updated in 2022, CCN’s H.O.P.E. Program is tied to the Common Core, Science, and Counseling standards, the program answers many questions about childhood cancer and breaks down barriers so that you and your friends and family can talk openly with each other.
HOW
The 55-minute, interactive, age appropriate presentation can be presented virtually through Zoom to anywhere in the country or with participants signing on from multiple homes or locations in the country. Groups can be large or small, done assembly or classroom style with the students and teachers from your child’s school, members of your child’s sport’s team or club, members of your church, with your friends and/or family from various homes in your state or around the country.
H.O.P.E. educates youth and adults about childhood cancer while empowering them to make a difference for childhood cancer survivors and all classmates.
The H.O.P.E. team also offers strategies for how youth can become a H.O.P.E. ambassador at their school and in their community through actions that support individuals battling childhood cancer. In addition, there is an important connection between H.O.P.E. and STEM education by inviting students to apply their knowledge of science in a real-world environment.
Resource boxes with pre and post activities are available to participants upon request. The Ways to H.O.P.E. poster is available to display in the best location.
WHEN AND WHERE
You name it, we will accommodate the best we can for you! Zoom… absolutely! For a small group… totally! For a large group… why, yes! For families and friends all over the country or world… definitely! If you are in Arizona, we are happy to accommodate in person presentations at your request.
If you are interested in participating in one of Children’s Cancer Network’s regularly scheduled H.O.P.E. classes or would like to schedule a H.O.P.E. presentation for you or your group, please email pluttrell@childrenscancernetwork.org. In your email, please share your name and contact information, your cancer fighter’s name and age, number of people who will be attending and their relationship to you and your family, and your treatment center. Please share if you are preferring to attend a class OR if you prefer to schedule a private class for your group. Please note, at no time will discussions about the specifics of your child’s situation be discussed. This is a class that will provide you and those important to you with tools to understand childhood cancer from a general scope. Your healthcare team will provide you with the specific details of your child’s situation and care. Thank you!
Children’s Cancer Network looks forward to sharing H.O.P.E. with you. Please note: There is never a charge to attend Children’s Cancer Network Programs for health care team members, cancer fighters, their families and/or friends! Thank you!
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT H.O.P.E.
Since the program’s inception, H.O.P.E. program volunteers have reached over 8,000 students at Arizona schools across the state. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Now, Children’s Cancer Network is thrilled to expand the focus to include any and all of the people that are significant in a child’s life. H.O.P.E. can provide information and practical knowledge to sports groups, churches, extended family members around the country, and more.
I still get goosebumps when I read the letters from kids after your H.O.P.E. visit. I will never forget how Ben’s attitude changed from quiet apprehension to joy at the thought of returning to school.
Great work. I thought that it went very well and the students were very engaged.
The past H.O.P.E. presentation for Sophia’s siblings was wonderful! Upon leaving the school, the principal said that a student went up to her and said 'I learned so much today, I will do my best to be nice to people in my school.' I just love attending the different schools and observing the kiddos different interactions with their fellow classmates. H.O.P.E.’s mission is such a simple concept, yet it seems to be practiced so rarely, mutual respect and kindness are always in style! When these values are presented as a visual and interactive experience for the school aged student, they are something that is easy to understand and incorporate into their daily lives.
Your program is so comprehensive and interactive that it grasps the audience’s attention and heart strings. School administrators are constantly amazed by how smoothly the presentation flows with all aspects of effective classroom management embedded into learning incorporating all types of learning styles. Students not only walk away with knowledge on what cancer is and how it affects their peers but also a sense of empowerment on how they can be a positive change in other’s lives.
