Friends of Karen seeks gift card donations to provide holiday meals for critically ill children

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - As communities prepare to celebrate springtime holidays such as Passover, Easter, and Ramadan, Friends of Karen is calling on supporters to donate supermarket gift cards to help critically ill children and their families enjoy a special springtime holiday meal.

For many Friends of Karen families, food insecurity is a significant problem. Parents are often torn between paying illness-related bills and putting food on the table.

When a child is diagnosed with cancer or another life-threatening illness, a family’s world is turned upside down. Parents suddenly face emotional and financial challenges they never imagined.

You can help Friends of Karen provide families with a meal by donating supermarket gift cards of $50, $75 or more from ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Target, Walmart, American Express, Visa, and Mastercard. If you cannot shop for a gift card, Friends of Karen will gratefully accept a donation of any amount, and they will purchase the gift card for you!

For more information, visit friendsofkaren.org or call Allison Watson at 914-617-4054.

Friends of Karen is a non-profit organization that provides emotional, financial and advocacy support for children with a life-threatening illness and their families in order to help keep them stable, functioning, and able to cope. For families living in the New York tri-state region, Friends of Karen gives them more time for what is most important: each other. The organization assists hundreds of ill children and their families every month, at no cost to them. Friends of Karen has received top ratings from Charity Navigator, an independent organization that evaluates the financial efficiency and responsibility of more than 9,000 U.S. charities.  Friends of Karen also meets the 20 Standards of Charity Accountability of the BBB of Metropolitan New York. Friends of Karen earned the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency in 2023.