The Jared Tomich Halo of Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to impacting the quality of life for children and families faced with pediatric cancer and/or blood disorder illnesses. Jared started the Halo of Hope Foundation 7 years ago, after his first visit to the Circle of Friends Camp. This camp is a life-changing 6-day experience that allows the kids to be away from home, to have a break from the hospital, and to make lasting friendships with kids who are facing similar life-threatening situations.
When Jared attended his first camp, he was instantly hooked. Jared and his wife Michaline currently dedicated time and resources to raising money to take kids to camp twice a year. Each year, the Halo of Hope team has a goal of raising over $60,000 to pay for patients from Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago and Omaha Children’s Hospital in Omaha, to continue sending kids to camp. This year, Halo is also connecting with Riley’s Children Hospital in Indianapolis, to expand the pool of children Halo can take to camp each year and support locally.
In addition to sending kids to camp, Halo of Hope has found more ways to help families of those affected by pediatric cancer and blood disorder illness in Northwest Indiana. In the past few years, the Tomich’s have helped host fundraisers for families, helped families whose children are going through treatment with bills, and created care packages to insure the quality of life for the Halo kids is maintained. In 2011, Halo of Hope became an official 501(c)3, and is now supported by a Board of Directors and Activities Committee. Our Board and Activities Committee help Halo extend its reach to host more fun events that create both awareness of the foundation and increase funds for camp and other resources.
The Halo of Hope plan is to grow the foundation so that more children can attend these life-changing camps and the foundation can provide additional funds to assist families faced with pediatric cancer with their quality of life by fundraising, financial, educational and emotional support.