Vision, Mission and Core Values
Our Vision
Every child with a life-threatening illness, and his or her family, will have all that they need to keep them stable, functioning, and able to cope.
Our Mission
The mission of Friends of Karen is to provide 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.
We started in 1978 with one family; one child, Karen MacInnes; and one inspired woman, Sheila Petersen. Since then, we have assisted more than 18,000 children and their families.
Our Core Values
Compassion
We were founded out of the kindness of one friend toward another.
We are inspired by that same spirit of compassion, striving to bring hope into the lives of the families we serve, our colleagues, donors and providers of support services in the community.
Dedication
We recognize dedication as the fabric of our work, driven by our passion to help others and our commitment to our families, volunteers and donors.
Respect
We respect our Friends of Karen families, donors, volunteers and all those we interact with in the community for their individuality, cultural backgrounds and diversity. In our workplace, we respect each other’s roles, expertise and experience, and support each other professionally.
Integrity
We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards by allocating resources fairly and maintaining the confidentiality of all those we work with.
We communicate honestly and clearly with the goal of a satisfactory outcome for all those we work with. We abide by the rules of state and federal law and follow through on the commitments we make to the best of our ability.
Impact
We are motivated by our ability to make a meaningful impact on both the immediate and long-term well-being of the children and families we serve.
We use our experience and resources to directly influence the emotional and financial stability of families and in turn their communities and other sources of assistance.