We know firsthand the challenges that an illness can create. At a time when focus should be fully on recovery, many other aspects of life are impacted for the entire family.

The Tessa Sutton Foundation provides families and individuals impacted by cancer or catastrophic illness with direct support. While financial support can only do so much, we hope that this provides the recipients with as much help as possible in their battle with illness.

To date, we have provided over $170,000 of support via this program to recipients throughout Illinois.

We rely on the community to provide nominations of impacted families and individuals that are in need of our support via the “Submit a Nomination” link on our website. All nominations are reviewed and require unanimous approval from our Board of Directors. We also adhere to a conflict-of-interest policy to ensure sustainability and transparency within this program.

The type and amount of support we are able to provide can vary based on a number of factors. Our focus currently is primarily on impacted families & individuals with a connection to Central Illinois, but we will adapt over time as possible based on our funding and overall programs.

During her many stays at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tessa was often the recipient of items from a cart that would be taken throughout the hospital with items for patients and their families. This brought a great deal of joy to Tessa during a very difficult time. Upon returning to Peoria, Tessa worked directly with Child-Life specialists at the Children's Hospital of Illinois on ideas for our foundation to replicate this program with the addition of some of Tessa’s own ideas for items to include. She named this the “Sunshine Cart”.

The Tessa Sutton Foundation is extremely proud to have brought Tessa’s goal to reality.

We maintain and fund a “Sunshine Cart” that is taken throughout the Children’s Hospital of Illinois and Peoria St. Jude affiliate. This cart has things like toys, activities, games, books, and more for the child patients and minor conveniences like books, activities, phone chargers, toiletries, and more for the patients’ families.

An Amazon wishlist is available to order items that are shipped directly to the hospital for the cart and we otherwise utilize the generous support provided to us via donations to fund and stock the cart.

We engage our community through events like the Team Tessa 3v3 Soccer Tournament to raise support and increase awareness of pediatric cancer issues. More details are available via the “Team Tessa 3v3 Tournament” page.

The Tessa Sutton Foundation is committed to supporting families facing cancer or catastrophic illness. We maintain a new program with the OSF Richard Owens Hospice House to provide snacks to families and visitors of patients. We hope this helps in a small way to allow families to have one less worry while being there to support their loved one.

We will continue to stock this snack station and hope families are able to utilize it for years to come.