Putting family over finance
A charity organization based in
Middlebury Center, PA
What is the Humble Bumble Project?
We are a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to assisting the families of pediatric and young adult cancer patients. The Humble Bumble Project is also a 2019 Tioga County Landmarks award recipient which honors heroes within the community. A cancer diagnosis is devastating for a family to hear—even more so when a child is on the receiving end.
Cancer is expensive, too. Crucial treatments like surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy cost tens of thousands of dollars. Insurance can help to ease the treatment costs but does not cover the every-day costs that become harder to pay when caring for a cancer patient. We help alleviate the financial burden created by the countless cancer-related expenses and necessities that medical insurance will not cover: mileage, lodging, and meals and incidentals.
Childhood cancer is hard enough to battle. You don't have to do it alone.
Our Mission
The mission of the Humble Bumble Project is to alleviate even the slightest amount of financial burden faced by pediatric and young adult cancer families so parents and caregivers can focus on family rather than finance.
Our Story
Each year, the parents of an estimated 75,800 children will hear the words, “Your child has cancer.”
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In October 2016, we were the parents who heard those words just two weeks after our daughter, Paige, turned 20 years old.
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A cancer diagnosis is a very humbling experience. Humbling to realize just how fragile life is. Humbling to entrust your child’s life to strangers. Humbling to accept help, financially or otherwise. Humbling to receive unconditional love and support from family, friends, and even strangers. Humbling to discover that no one fights alone.
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Paige had an affinity for bees, especially the bumblebee. Aerodynamically, bumblebees should not be able to fly (as their wings cannot carry all of their body weight). Yet somehow, they make flight possible. As parents and caregivers of a child with a cancer diagnosis, we find ourselves carrying more than we ever imagined.
The Griffin Family:
Chad, Paige, and Michele
Managing jobs, finances, laundry, meals, family, doctor appointments, surgeries, hospital stays, scans, blood draws, treatments, medications, nights away from home...the list is limitless. We manage to incorporate it all into our daily routine; they become part of our new normal as we take on more than we thought possible. Just like the bumblebee.
Our family has been overwhelmed by the love and support from family, friends, co-workers, our community, and even complete strangers. We have been humbled by the outpouring, both emotionally and financially. Not all cancer families are as fortunate as we have been to receive such overwhelming support. The urge to pay things forward in the form of a nonprofit charitable organization steadily grew over the past two years and as a result, the Humble Bumble Project was born.
Many families will struggle at some point with finances during their cancer journey. At the time of diagnosis, families are not only forced to confront fears, make complex decisions, and cope with tremendous stress; they may suddenly face potential financial hardship as well. The additional burden of time and cost exacerbates the stress on families already struggling with cancer's uncertainty.
This is a side of cancer that many do not see or anticipate. Finances are strained by lost income as parents often must go on unpaid leave, work reduced hours, or even leave/lose their job to care for their child. At the same time, there are new out-of-pocket expenses related to the child's care not covered by health insurance. Many families soon find it difficult to find enough money for basic and integral needs: fuel for frequent trips to and from treatments, lodging and food expenses for extended hospital stays or treatments, parking or tolls, groceries for the home, household expenses and utilities, child-care for siblings, or even pet boarding expenses for siblings of the four-legged variety.
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The mission of the Humble Bumble Project is to alleviate even the slightest amount of financial burden faced by pediatric and young adult cancer families so parents and caregivers can focus on family rather than finances.
Paige always wanted to change the world for the better, and she succeeded. She passed in November 2018, but this organization is her legacy. We are dedicated to changing the world for Paige.
The Humble Bumble Project is just getting started, designated as a 501(c)(3) public charity on July 17, 2018.
Please help the Humble Bumble Project put family over finances.
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“When someone has cancer, the whole family and everyone who loves them does, too.” —Terri Clark
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