This Year's Project: Blessing Bags
About Our Organization
At the Ability Tech Foundation, we don’t stop at inventing the latest technology – we know that families and caregivers need so much more. We are here to provide programs such as our Blessing Bags, CharitAbility and We All Have a Voice to help offer extra support they so often need. Because we know firsthand the obstacles that come with caring for an individual with needs, we do our best to never turn a family or individual away based on their financial or insurance status.
Current Project: Blessing Bags
One of the most challenging aspects of caring for a loved one with needs is unexpected medical emergencies. Our family has, on many occasions, needed to drop everything and drive far from home to get our son the care he needs. Often, that meant spending days and nights in the same clothes, roughing it without the basic items we usually have access to. With our son requiring emergency care, the last thing we wanted to think about was where to find a toothbrush.
It’s those moments that inspired our Blessing Bags Program.
Through this program, we provide a care package for parents and caregivers who experience an unexpected hospitalization of a loved one and are required to travel more than 50 miles from home.
The bags come packed with all the necessary items a family might need, including hygiene kits, shower shoes, warm socks, water bottles, activity books, phone chargers, coupons for food, and more.
It may not seem like much, but to families like this, it can mean the world:
“Oh, this brings so many memories flooding back of my husband and I sitting in strange hospital rooms, hours away with our epileptic son, with nothing but the clothes on our backs. No way to shower, or even brush our teeth. Stuck in a tiny hospital room for days on end. One time our son was life-flighted over 2 hours away to the closest children’s hospital after a really bad extended grand mal seizure, and my husband left straight from work and drove there. He was stuck filthy in dirty work clothes and muddy boots for three days there. I was stuck in pajamas. It was awful. Some of these things would’ve made our unexpected stay A LOT more comfortable.”
We currently serve eight hospitals in three states, but hospitals and families are requesting bags at a rate we cannot keep up with. This shows us that families desperately need our program.
The cost per bag is $100, which provides two parents or caregivers with the basic supplies they need, and more importantly, peace of mind. Our goal is to support over 200 families in 2023.
All it takes is a bag and a heart to give someone the blessing of being thought of while in a situation where most families feel alone. We need your help to bring awareness to this need and spread this opportunity to your friends and family. With your help, we look forward to serving hundreds more families.