Inspiring Conversations with Tammy Krause

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammy Krause.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
What began as a mother’s wish to offer a playful respite for her daughter fighting brain cancer, has now become a movement to reclaim the innocence and playfulness of childhood for those who are defenseless by the realities of their medical condition.

Bags of Fun is a network of caring people who want to make a difference in the lives of children with cancer and other long-term childhood illnesses by delivering healing through happiness. The signature project is Bags of Fun®. Established in October 2004 in honor of an amazing six-year-old, Gabby, who died after a courageous 19-month battle with brain cancer. We have one program, Bags of Fun, whose mission is to bring joy, laughter, and relief to every child fighting a life-threatening disease or condition.

Our goal is to deliver a Bag of Fun (a backpack filled with educational, manipulative, and therapeutic toys that are customized to each child’s age, gender, diagnosis, and interests) to keep every child engaged and happy during long hospital visits. Once our team assembles these personalized Bags, we deliver them to the recipients at local Denver hospitals.

It is our way of showing them that someone understands. It is a simple concept with the greatest return – a child’s smile.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have had an incredible community to support and champion our cause.

We have certainly faced adversity with some of our fundraising but our community has always rallied around us in hard times.

We’ve been impressed with Gabby Krause Foundation DBA Bags of Fun, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Through our Bags of Fun program, we bring unique play to every child in Colorado whose health and happiness are both compromised and threatened due to a long-term and/or life-threatening disease or condition. Every Bag of Fun delivered results in a distraction from their medical condition, hope during a time of distress, and happiness in a time of darkness.

Play-based therapy has proven to be effective in improving pain, anxiety, and fatigue levels in hospitalized children. We hope that our Bag of Fun filled with toys and electronics that are customized to each child’s age, gender and diagnosis will have a long-term, special therapeutic value for them, thus contributing to their positive physical and emotional well-being.

Our Bags of Fun provides a way out of negative feelings and disappointments, creates a continuity of everyday life, and helps children maintain their self-esteem, confidence, and sense of control. The medical professionals that we collaborate with have found that children who participate in playful, behavioral distractions are calmer and more receptive to treatment.

In fact, because of the success of our program, with the help of our medical partners, we continue to add new populations of children in need each year. Our specially crafted Bags of Fun for all of these patients will help stabilize these children and provide them with a sense of relief during their immediate crisis. We will continue to work closely with hospitals to help them make a child’s darkest time a bit brighter.

The power of play makes a real difference in recovery for the recipient and gives hope to their families. Since inception, we have delivered over 14,000 Bags of Fun. Just last year, we delivered joy, laughter, and relief to 1,099 Colorado families.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
We are proud to work closely with the medical professionals at each hospital in Colorado. We receive weekly requests from each hospital’s Child Life Specialist for children who qualify for a Bag of Fun, which is any patient being treated for a long-term or life-limiting disease, including mental illness. We pride ourselves on providing Bags of Fun to all seriously ill children in need of a distraction from the constant stress of spending time in treatment at the hospital.

The reach of our program in Colorado is expansive and continues to grow each year. We serve pediatric patients with cancer, organ transplants, kidney dialysis, bone marrow transplants, severe GI, severe epilepsy, severe trauma, palliative care, neurology, burn victims, Batten’s Disease, EB skin disease, and cardiac ailments.

In addition, we continue to accommodate 60 Bag requests each month for the Adolescent Psychology patients at Denver Health Medical Center with diagnoses including depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, gender dysphoria, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, and schizophrenia.

We serve children at Children’s Hospital Denver and Colorado Springs, Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, Denver Health, and through special requests from local physicians, nurses, social workers, and friends. Time after time, the emotional stability of a Bag recipient directly correlates to their physical stability. As you can see, there is a great need for these Bags and we are assured that our Bags of Fun enhance the emotional development and mental health of sick children.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bagsoffun.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bagsoffun_gkf/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bagsoffunco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3661891/admin/feed/posts/