BraveHoods for brave kids

Allison Yacht is the Executive Director for BraveHoods, a non-profit organization she founded after supporting her now 13-year-old daughter through a year of cancer treatments.  BraveHoods is a one-for-one organization that gifts hooded apparel to kids with cancer and their siblings.  

Allison believes that childhood cancer stinks and helping kids feel more comfortable while fighting for their lives is one way to make it a little more tolerable. BraveHoods has delivered more than 6700 hoodies to kids with cancer and looks forward to the day when her organization is obsolete.

Prior to founding BraveHoods, Yacht ran a successful database consulting and training company.  Yacht has also worked at several Colorado nonprofits and for the Governor of the State of Colorado.

Allison lives in Colorado with her husband Steve, son Zach, daughter Merry (a brave cancer survivor!) and her black lab, Joule. 

Most people going through cancer treatment will lose their hair.  This is hard when you are an adult, but even harder when you are a kid.  This unwanted attention starts to wear away at kids self-confidence and makes it even more difficult for them to participate in regular activities. BraveHoods give kids a cool and fashionable way to manage their baldness.  They can wear their hoodie up when out and about and put their hood down when they are comfortable with friends and family.  Our shirts are inspirational and don't scream cancer.  We are a one-for-one organization, so when a shirt is bought a hoodie is donated.  When a kid is diagnosed with cancer, people want to help, but they don't know how - BraveHoods gives them an easy way to make a difference for a kiddo fighting cancer.

There are over 13,000 kids diagnosed with cancer in America every year.  Cancer treatment is difficult and affects the entire family, sometimes entire communities.  BraveHoods give people an easy way to make a difference in the life of kid fighting cancer.   

While there have been impressive strides for adult cancers, most kids' cancer treatment hasn't changed in over 40 years. Only 4% of federal government cancer research funding goes to study pediatric cancer.

BraveHoods helps to keep kids comfortable, helps to bring awareness to pediatric cancer and give people a way to help families.

BraveHoods gifts hooded apparel to kids with cancer.  We get shirts to families through hospitals, non-profits and send directly to families who contact us.  

Each shirt is packaged in a clear ziptop bag with information about our organization and how to get more for their kids.  As part of our mission, we gift to siblings because we know sometimes they can get left out.  

Our BraveHoods give kids a way to feel comfortable and confident while they go about their lives.  The hood can be worn up or down depending on the circumstance.  Additionally, having similar shirts for the siblings help to make them feel like a team.

Our project serves families whose kids are fighting cancer.  When a child is diagnosed with cancer, no matter what the age, it is devastating to families and they need all the support they can get.  

BraveHoods lets these families know that others are thinking of them.  Hope is contagious and by wearing our shirts, we want to spread the hope.

Pediatric cancer, if you are lucky to survive, is life changing.  Treatment is barbaric and hasn't been changed much since we started treating cancer.  Only 4% of federal government cancer research funding goes to pediatric cancer and this has got to change.  There have been advances in almost every other kind of cancer treatment.  BraveHoods firmly believes that more cancer research will allow more kids to live through their treatment and cut down on the life-long side effects.  

A simple shirt cannot cure cancer, but it can help keep kids comfortable while bringing attention to pediatric cancer.

My daughter is 14 years old now but was almost 5 when she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.  She was bald for a year, at a time when she was just trying to figure out who she was.  She was a confident, outgoing kid, but once the unwanted stares started (from her little bald head), her whole personality changed.  We were a very active family but she soon refused to leave the house or hospital because she was so overwhelmed with the attention.  

We tried wigs, scarves and hats, but none of those worked because she felt they were attracting more attention to her.  Finally, I found a light-weight hoodie worked well because she could control who saw her head.  This made all the difference to her and therefore to our family.

Once she was through with treatment and recovered for a year, BraveHoods was born to help to give back to our amazing community.   To date, we have gifted over 7,200 BraveHoods to kids all over the country.  

When we first were introduced to the pediatric cancer community, I wanted to get out as fast as possible.  I had no idea how we could possibly get through her year of treatment.  I soon found out how wrong I had been.  The cancer community is unbelievably hopeful and accepting and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.  

When Merry was first diagnosed, I was a database consultant.  I quickly closed my business with no intention of going back.  Even at the beginning, I knew that I would not be able to help people with their computer problems anymore.  I knew I needed to make a difference for kids like Merry and families like ours. 

While we do learn something everyday, we have our organization running very well.  It took us a few years to understand how this would work, but we are past the difficult part and ready to grow.

We have a passion for our purpose and this comes out in everything we do.  

The biggest challenge of my life was helping Merry get through her cancer treatment.  Her cancer required major surgery, a year of chemo and 6 weeks of radiation.  I honestly had no idea how we would get through it, but we did - step by step and day by day.  

I knew we couldn't go through this experience without learning a few things.  We have taken our lemons and made lemonade.  Through BraveHoods we have been able to help so many kids and families.  We are so proud of our work and look forward to making a difference to other kids fighting cancer.

Our family went through a very difficult time, but I knew going through it would make us all better people.  I have always enjoyed being in leadership positions and have used this to my advantage.  

Before opening BraveHoods, I ran a database consulting company.   I always thought I was shy and worked one on one with people for a long time.  I stepped outside my comfort zone and started teaching classes on databases and that made me realize that I am not shy and I have the ability to lead a class.  This small confidence boost is what I needed to realize I am a good worker, but an even better leader.   

BraveHoods is unique, because we are solving a difficult problem with a simple solution. Bald kids are usually very sensitive to unwanted attention, our shirts make it easier for them to manage their baldness without bringing more attention to the kids.  BraveHoods are cool and fashionable and they work for everyone so they don't attract extra attention.

Additionally, we are one-for-one, so this makes it so people can easily and meaningfully support kids with cancer.

Strength, inspiration and hope in a shirt. Studies show that clothes that we wear can impact how we feel.  For example, Professor Karen Prime at the University of Hertfordshire asked “a group of people to wear a Superman t-shirt and concluded that they believed they were stronger as a result.  Researchers found that dressing like a super-hero had translated into more confidence and the belief that they could achieve more. “

Alternatively, think of how you feel when you are wearing a hospital gown.  Your identity is not seen.  You look like everyone else on your floor.  You doctors, nurses and other staff see you as a patient.  You see yourself as a patient.

Having cancer is hard enough and we want to put dignity back into the equation.  BraveHoods are a simple solution to a complex problem.  As science has proven, what you wear, can make a difference in your outlook on life.   

We received this note from a mom and we think it sums up what we do and why we do it: It is such a blessing that she can wear something that makes her feel strong. I swear that she feels like it is a shield! She is my warrior!  -GH

Building Teams Another main theory behind our BraveHoods is the idea of “belonging to a team”.   Sports teams wear the same uniform for 2 main reasons:

• To be able to tell who is on your team (and who is not)
• To be feel like one cohesive group trying to attain a goal (win the game).

We give BraveHoods to siblings for the same reasons.  Cancer is hard on the patient, but it is also hard on the other kids in the household.  We want them to know they are part of the team and their presence is important.  We want them to remember they are loved and valued, even if their sister/brother is getting more attention.

Since 2013, we have gifted over 7,100 BraveHoods to kids all over the country.  Up until 2018, we were donating an average of 1000 BraveHoods per year.  However, we have had a large growth recently and 2019 we gifted 2400 shirts.  It looks like we will be able to do at least 2400 in 2020, with a total of 9000 BraveHoods.

We have seen an unbelievable growth in 2019 and looked forward to continuing our expansion, but unfortunately COVID has changed our plans.  

First and foremost, we look forward to developing more relationships with funders.  Most of our gifted shirts are made possible by our great grantors.

Secondly, we would like to develop a line of face masks because our population will be wearing masks for several years.

Third, we are slowly getting our shirts into retail stores, bringing an income stream that is helping people learn about us.

Currently our biggest challenge is COVID.  We spent a lot of time doing events where we sell our shirts (and for each one sold, one is donated).  COVID has canceled all our events and made us realize we need to rethink how we get the word out about our organization.  

I think the COVID pandemic will likely last a while and we are not sure when or if these events will return.  Therefore, we are working with small retailers to see if we can work with them to get our products into their stores.

I am sure we are not alone in our COVID challenge.  We will be learning along with the other organizations as to best practices.  So far, we have developed a program that can be handled online.  

Additionally, we have started a podcast called "The More Than 4-cast" to share hopeful stories of pediatric cancer.  This has allowed us to build an audience with our beneficiaries.  

We love partnering with other organizations and have developed several great connections.  

First, we rent our offices from Habitat for Humanity of St Vrain Valley.  We have been here for several years and absolutely love working with them.

We have been working with the Seacrest Foundation to get BraveHoods to all their Seacrest Studios located in Children's Hospitals.

We are always working with several Ronald McDonald Houses, camps for kids with cancer, and directly with hospitals' child life departments.

BraveHoods is a one-for-one nonprofit.  I believe we have the best of both worlds.  We are a 501c3 so we write grants.  We are also a one-for-one organization, so for each shirt sold, one is donated.  We love this model because it gets our customers very involved with our beneficiaries.

BraveHoods is a one-for-one nonprofit, which seems to be the best of both worlds.  We apply for grants, receive donations and sell a product.  We look forward to building our retail business because we like the fact that it is almost unlimited, whereas grants and donations often have requirements.

We have received several grants, donations and sales including:

1. Cancer League of Colorado - 3.2020-grant $6,000
2. Guynn Foundation - 6.2020-grant $6,200
3. Swingle Foundation - 6.2020 - grant $20,000
4. Large Donation - 6.2020-$21,500
5. Product sales - 2020-$1717 || (2019-$20,602)

We raise funds through grants, donations and product sales.  We have broken down the country by state and apply for grants to enable us to deliver BraveHoods to hospitals and nonprofits.

Our 2020 estimated expenses is $23,000.  

We would be thrilled to receive a monetary prize from The Elevate Prize, but we are more interested in the support and education that comes with this prize.  We have found that we work really well on our business when we are working and learning with others.

Additionally, our organization does very well when more people know us, so we hope by winning this prize, we will naturally be known to more people who want to support our cause.

We would love help to massage our message and make it more understandable.  We also need better marketing materials and exposure.  We would value mentorship/coaching because while we have been working on this for several years, we know we have a lot more to learn.

We think partnerships with other retailers would help us to get our message out better.

Additionally, we would like to partner with a well known person/s to design our shirts for us.