Nathaniels Hope was founded in 2002 to meet the needs of kids with special needs (VIP Kids) and their families. VIP Kids are those with any physical, cognitive, medical or hidden disability, chronic or life-threatening illness, or those who are medically fragile. Through their personal experience with their son Nathaniel, co-founders Tim and Marie Kuck saw first-hand how demanding it can be to raise a child with special needs. Programs offered by Nathaniels Hope are designed to
- reduce stress for kids with special needs and their families;
- share hope and encouragement;
- provide education to empower individuals in the community to reach out to those families.
Nathaniels Hope offfers the following programs and services:
Bearing Hope
How can we connect with our VIP friends and bring them the real Hope that we share? As we identify VIP Kids in the community, we share our message by Bearing Hope through the gift of an adorable little bear that lets our VIP friends know we are here and we care about them!
Buddy Break
Nathaniels care was very involved twenty four hours a day and seven days a week filled with sleepless nights, feeding tubes, medications, doctors visits, therapies, and needless to say, a great deal of stress. Though a tremendous blessing, the life of raising a VIP Kid can be all-consuming with very little support available, even from friends and family, forcing many VIP families to travel the journey overwhelmed and alone. Buddy Break was created to provide respite care for families who had little or no support system to give them a break when they need it the most. Buddy Break is a program that gives VIP parents that break, while allowing people to get involved by being a Buddy friend to a child and their family. The program is carried out in partnership with local churches, since we believe that the local church has the greatest opportunity, desire, and responsibility to provide these families with practical assistance within their own communities. Buddy Break was first introduced at Calvary Assembly in Winter Park, Florida in 2004. Since its inception, Calvary has served as a model and training ground for the other locations that are extending now across the nation. Our hope is to create a nationwide Buddy Break network that will be available to VIP families wherever they may go!
Carroling for Kids
On Christmas morning of 1997 Nathaniel made an unexpected visit to the hospital where Nathaniel and his family spent his first Christmas huddled around a hospital bed instead of a gift-laden Christmas tree. As the Kucks looked around, they realized that so many others surrounded them, each dealing with the circumstances that had brought them there. In that moment they were quick to realize that the sadness and loneliness they experienced that Christmas Day was not unique to our family.From that Christmas, the Kucks purposed in their hearts to find a way to encourage kids like Nathaniel who had to spend Christmas in the hospital. The following Christmas, Nathaniel, along with the rest of the Kuck family and about 40 others visited Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital in Orlando, Florida bearing candy canes and homemade goodies, all the while filling the halls with Christmas carols for kids, their families, and hospital staff. The success of this first caroling outreach to the community brought Nathaniels Hope to repeat it year after year and call it Caroling for Kids.In 2007, Nathaniels Hope added a new facet to Caroling for Kids called Caroling Caravan in which small groups of carolers go to the homes of VIP families who are unable to leave their houses for Christmas. For these special families, the Christmas cheer is brought directly to their doorstep.Today, Caroling for Kids has become an annual outreach of Nathaniels Hope with more teams of carolers going to increasingly more locations bearing thousands of cookies, candy canes, and beanie babies to bring Christmas hope and joy to kids, their families, and hospital staff.
Hall of Hope
We believe that every child, no matter how short and challenging their life, shares a purpose and unspeakable value that cannot be forgotten. Having a platform from which to share the significance of a childs life after they have passed on gives the parents and caregivers of these children a lasting way to share their childs purpose with others. The Hall of Hope is a place we have dedicated to remembering kids who have moved on to their Heavenly home. Photos and stories from the lives of these VIP Kids are posted online so that family and friends can visit, remember, and celebrate these precious lives. The families of these amazing children are then remembered with a gesture on their childs birthday and homegoing date.
Keep'm Smiling
Many times it is logistically difficult for families with VIP Kids to enjoy special community activities. We believe that with a little education and effort, event planners can make deliberate provisions so that these families and their children can be welcomed to enjoy these activities. It is our goal to provide event planners with the practical assistance necessary to ensure that all families are included in community events.
