Specialties
The Cool Kids Campaign is dedicated to improving the quality of life for pediatric oncology patients and their families while they deal with the trauma of a cancer diagnosis and its treatments.
Our largest program here in Baltimore is the Cool Kids Learning Center. Designed to address the academic, social and emotional issues that accompany a cancer diagnosis, it opened in the Fall of 2011. We currently offer individualized tutoring, group activities, and preschool "Mommy and Me" for oncology patients - all at no cost to the family. This facility is designed for kids with cancer to have a place where they feel they fit in, alongside of peers with similar experiences, as they attempt to continue a normal childhood.
Our Care Package program is national, and provides any child in the United States with a box jammed with toys and other activities that provide a welcome distraction from daily hospital routine.
History
Established in 2006.
The foundation formally began in 2006 when Rob Bellanger, Chris Federico, and Sharon Perfetti joined forces to launch the Cool Kids Campaign. Around the same time Kimmie Meissner, the 2006 World and 2007 National Champion Figure Skater, had lost two close friends to cancer and was looking for a children's charity to support.
As things tend to happen, Chris, Rob, and Sharon met Kimmie through mutual friends, and the idea of the Cool Kids Campaign was born. While deciding on the name of the new foundation, the four co-founders kept in mind that kids are kids, healthy or sick, and that every kid wants to feel "cool" even when they don't feel well.
Today, as Cool Kids Campaign decides how to best designate dollars to help the kids, their decisions are based on whether the campaign's actions will directly affect the children and their families. We aim to distract them - at least for a while - while they are fighting for their lives.
Meet the Business Owner: Chris F.
Chris's mother died in 1995 from leukemia. This motivated him to create a foundation that would help others with cancer. When doctors told Susannah Federico she had only six weeks to live, she answered, "That's not going to be enough time. There's just too much to do." Fourteen months later at age 66, her battle ended. Susannah was a woman in love with her family and the world. Her spirit of generosity lives on through her seven children and 19 grandchildren. Chris and his wife are parents to three wonderful kids.
