The Michael Hoefflin Foundation held its annual Cheers for Charity fundraiser and community celebration, in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, on Saturday at the Canyon Country Community Center.
Local leaders and community members gathered for a relaxed community event aimed to raise funds to continue the support for local families through resources and raise awareness of the cause itself.
Because the organization is 100% funded by local donors, such fundraisers are essential to further the work of assisting families who have a pediatric cancer patient, said organization office manager Beth Oliva.
“It’s really humbling that there’s so many people that have been loyal supporters for many years,” she added. The foundation was founded over 30 years ago by the Hoefflin family and has since been serving hundreds of families.
Currently the organization is assisting 500 families a year, which equates to approximately 25 to 35 families a month, she added, and once the child receiving the support turns 18, “they’re still a part of the foundation,” Oliva added.
As families enjoyed live music, food and a silent auction, guests present had their own personal reasons why they chose to support the cause.
For board members Cory Colgan and Steven Jones, supporting the foundation came at different points in their lives, but at the core of it all, as two dads, they empathized with all parents who endure the challenges of pediatric cancer.
“I would just look at how it would impact my wife and I and our family and how special and how important it is for them to be healthy and happy,” Colgan said. “To know that not everybody is fortunate enough to have that be the case. Hearing the stories of the families and how appreciative they are that there is something out there trying to help, it’s just moving.”
For Jones, bringing awareness to the cause is just as important as donors, because as someone who grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley and knew the Hoefflin family for years, spreading their message and mission beyond the hill is essential for more people to learn about the efforts and continue to provide resources through the foundation, named for Michael Hoefflin, who died at age 10 in 1996 after a four-year battle with cancer.
From the moment the family learns their child has been diagnosed with cancer, to the moment the child turns 18, the foundation will continue to support them with financial assistance but “we never leave the family,” Jones said.
