Angel’s Hands Foundation (AHF) was founded in 2001 by Mark and Roxann Kristensen, and Steve and Sue Stauffer. Upon returning from a national conference on Kristensen’s son Matt’s disease, the Stauffers and Kristensens decided to raise money to help Utah families deal with the everyday struggles facing families with rare diseases.
Matt passed away in December of 2002, but AHF continues to grows and support Utah families. The mission of AHF is simple, “Improve the quality of life for individuals living with rare diseases.” In 2001, AHF supported Utah families with three rare diseases. Since 2001, AHF has provided support and assistance to Utah families living with over 115 different rare conditions and 30 undiagnosed conditions. AHF also provided financial support to Shriner’s Hospital and Primary Children’s Hospital, as well local school district therapists. AHF continues to find unique diseases and conditions where families need assistance.
AHF supports families in a variety of ways. Assisting families with medical expenses by paying off lingering medical bills and purchasing medical equipment not covered by insurance, has brought relief to families. Even with benefits, these families often struggle to give their children some of the simple joys in life. Hearing aids, wheel chairs, specialty strollers, special beds, braces, therapy spas, specialty bicycles, air conditioning and air filtration systems, special bath tubs, and many other items have been given to our children.
AHF provides educational support about diseases from our family relationships and by helping families attend national conferences to meet other families from around the country, as well as medical specialists on their child’s disease.
Emotional, moral, and social support is often not available for families with rare conditions. AHF has developed a support system for our families. This has provided emotional support when difficult times come. Hospitalization is difficult and death is unbearable when our children get sick and die. This happens to many of our families.
AHF provides social outings for our families monthly. Many of our children do not go out in public due to their conditions or physical limitations. AHF has taken families to professional hockey, basketball and baseball games. We have had private swimming parties, pizza parties, Christmas parties, fishing parties, picnics, taken kids snow skiing, and we have also gone to movies and the circus. Many of these events are luxuries that our families cannot afford due to the financial hardships brought on by the diseases. The making of memories is the greatest reward to the Kristensen’s. Matt’s legacy lives on, while Mark and Roxann get the smiles and hugs they miss so much since Matt’s death.
AHF also supports national organizations in a way the directly affects our Utah families. We support scholarship programs for families and healthy siblings that have to live and deal with their family disease.
AHF is recognized by the IRS as a 501c3 tax exempt organization. This has helped us raise funds at our annual events.
The Annual AHF “Firefighter Ride and Car Show” is a fun day in the park. Local fire departments bring fire trucks for kids to see and climb on. We have a variety of activities, food and live music, great classic cars, and a lot of very nice motorcycles to see. All this makes for a fun day in the park. This event has grown rapidly.
The AHF Annual “Friend Raiser” is our dinner/auction that is held in the fall. This event has sold out each year and is a great evening to educate our community on the unique needs of our forgotten families, and raise money to support what we do.
Other organizations support AHF through a variety of fundraising activities such as an Annual AHF “Golf Tournament” held each spring.
We hope this information will inspire you to help us in some way. As a volunteer, giving financial support, or helping us to find families that could benefit from hearing about us. AHF continues to inspire everyone we encounter to act in some way to help others. It is also the legacy of all of our children that have passed away the past several years.
We hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Mark Kristensen, President – Angel’s Hands Foundation
