Photo: Emma Friedman/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Boston-based nonprofit Anna’s Pals held a golf tournament fundraiser on Monday at George Wright Golf Course.
Anna’s Pals dedicates its work to helping immunocompromised kids leave easier lives. The organization was named after Anna Jerome, who passed away 10 years ago from leukemia and had her own struggles with being immunocompromised after a bone marrow transplant.
Anna’s mother Kris Jerome said that the funds from this tournament will go towards turning the 8 classrooms of the now retired Ella F. Hoxie School into the Anna’s Pals Beach House for Immunocompromised Children, with each classroom being converted into 2-bedroom apartments.
These apartments will be wheelchair accessible, constructed with mold and mildew-resident materials, and staffed with nurses to maintain a clean and safe environment for the kids.
They will also be outfitted an air filtration system that will create, according to Anna’s Pals, “…a clean, code-compliant, non-clinical environment where children with compromised immune systems can safely enjoy time by the sea with their families.”
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Kris explained that as Anna went through her treatments, she noticed the struggles with everyday life that immunocompromised kids experienced when trying to enjoy their childhood, and she believes that this beach house can fill that need.
“While she was going through treatment, we noticed a void in the care for immunocompromised children, so we decided that we needed to do something that hasn’t been done before,” Kris said. “We’re created a beach house specifically designed for immunocompromised kids.”
Jerome also mentioned how many of Anna’s friends, those 'pals' that give the organization its name, have continued to support events like this, as they also see the value in the beach house and what it represents, especially after knowing what Anna went through.
“They realize that this beach house is really needed for these families to reconnect and have a time that they just can’t have right now,” Jerome said. “They can’t go away, they can’t be together outside the clinic environment, and this is what this beach house will do. It’ll create opportunities for these families to bond.”
The organization hopes to raise between $80,000-$100,000 from this event.
More information about the group can be found here.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman (@EmmaFriedmanWBZ) reports.