In 2020, 80% of our revenues went directly to research, support programs and advocacy.

A year in review

Planned vs. Reality

In late 2019, Cassie + Friends had a lot to look forward to come the new year of 2020. With over 1100 youth and families already registered for Juvenile Arthritis Family Day Conferences in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, the continued expansion of Team Cassie + Friends run/walk, a new Teen Arthritis Group program offered in 6 cities and the addition of brand new full-time employee to keep driving our growth and success, the team at Cassie + Friends was set for an ambitious and dynamic year. Bring on the challenge, we said!

When COVID-19 forced a change of plans for everyone worldwide, there was no question about whether we would rise to the challenge as we quickly made the game-changing shift to 100% virtual programming for 2020. While we were heartbroken to cancel Family Day events knowing just how impactful they are (we heard from some families who had been waiting years for a chance to meet other kids and parents living with rheumatic disease!), we knew that our community now needed us more than ever and in ways we’d never imagined.

As COVID-19 grew to a force no one expected to be possible, we put our heads together to answer the question, how can we best be there for families in our community during these unprecedented times?

Moving Forward

It was all hands on deck in March 2020 when we launched our COVID-19 microsite created to provide families an easy-to-navigate, up-to-date information centre, specific to the pediatric rheumatic disease community in Canada. Thanks to the pediatric rheumatologists from our Medical Advisory Board, caregivers were able to submit their most-pressing COVID-19 questions and receive answers from doctors on a weekly basis. During this time, we also introduced our new Online Support Network – a secure and private app for Canadian JA and rheumatic disease families to connect with one another, ask questions and share stories of their child’s journey with juvenile arthritis.

As restrictions tightened and no in-person events were in sight, we brought education, support and connection into homes across Canada through the creation of our Virtual Education Series (VES) and Teen Arthritis Group events. The VES launched as a brand new program offering expert presentations via webinars on topics that mattered most to parents, a chance to ask doctors questions LIVE (during a time when clinic-contact was so limited), and an opportunity to share experiences and find comfort. We learned we could bring education to hundreds of families across Canada all at once – this was a game changer.

Next, Team Cassie + Friends, our largest annual fundraiser consisting of an in-person run/walk transitioned to a virtual event that encouraged participants to join in their own way, safely from their own community. With such great success and growth of the Team Cassie and Friends run/walk in previous years, we were determined to hold on to the momentum we had worked so hard to build. Again, the virtual platform allowed our community to get involved with no geographical boundaries and we saw participants join from coast to coast, raising an incredible $300,000, and crowning us as the Top Fundraising charity in both the Vancouver and Calgary VIRTUAL Scotiabank Charity Challenge events.

Our team worked hard to provide education, connection, and support to families in our community through the launch of our monthly newsletter, research opportunities (such as JIA-PaCER & “The impact of JIA pain and its treatments on parents“), partnerships with other arthritis related organizations, and close connections to pediatric rheumatologists from across Canada. Thank you to everyone who has supported us through awareness raising, donations big and small, participation in our events, or even a simple referral of, “Hey, have you heard of Cassie + Friends?” We would not be where we are today with out the support of our community helping us reach our vision of a pain-free future for kids.

To view the full Financial Report for 2020, click here.