The Annual Crawl for Cancer is on October 2, 2010. The Jennifer Ireland Foundation is proud to be a part of this fundraiser and we look forward to see you there. The deadline for entry is September 6, 2010.

The Jennifer Ireland Foundation would like to thank the organizers of the “Cage Fight for Cancer”. A portion of the money raised at this event were donated to the Jennifer Ireland Foundation. More details to come as the final numbers are determined.

The 4th Annual Jennifer Ireland Foundation Golf Tournament was a huge success, raising the most money yet! The beautiful weather and large number of golfers contributed to a great day of fun golfing and raising money for a wonderful cause.

Tuesday, May. 25, 2010
Blue Springs Journal
Miranda Wycoff, Journal Staff

On Saturday 120 golfers and more than 30 volunteers gathered at Adams Pointe Golf Club to participate in the fourth annual Jennifer Ireland Foundation Golf Tournament.

The tournament is the biggest fundraiser for the foundation, which aims to provide financial grants to cancer patients and their families.

“We’ve given more than $40,000 worth of grants and helped more than 40 families all over the United States,” said Jan Velander, Jennifer Ireland’s mother.

Ireland, a Blue Springs High School graduate and Blue Springs resident, died from colon cancer in February 2007 at the age of 27.

“We wanted to keep her memory alive,” Velander said. “It’s a great way to continue to remember Jenn. She fought hard and with such dignity. We wanted this to be a tribute to her and to people fighting as hard as she did.”

While Ireland was fighting her battle with cancer, she and her family started a blog detailing the day-to-day trials and tribulations of Ireland’s diagnosis and what it was like for Ireland and her young family. From there it blossomed.

“We were getting 15,000 to 20,000 hits,” Velander said. “That blog is what brought everyone together.”

So when Ireland’s family saw how much her blog meant to others going through a similar situation, they knew they had to keep her memory alive.

“We thought the foundation would be a good way to pay it forward,” Velander said. “All the money we receive goes to the families of cancer patients.”

In addition to providing monetary grants, the foundation also donates gift baskets full of everyday items like tissues, snacks, notepads and water bottles to hospital rooms of cancer patients.

“These are things that when your loved one is lying in a hospital bed, you just don’t want to need,” Velander said. “You want to spend as much time as possible with them.”

For more information on the Jennifer Ireland Foundation, go to www.jenniferirelandfoundation.com