Online Art, Music and Exercise Programs Win CFF Impact Grants
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This year’s Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) Impact Grants will support three new virtual programs that support the well-being of people of all ages living with cystic fibrosis (CF).
These winning projects range from a virtual video performance with tailored songs for hospitalized children with CF, to online exercise classes for teenagers, and virtual art sessions for adults, the foundation announced in a press release.
Now in its sixth year, CFF Impact Grants provide up to $10,000 a year, for a maximum of two years, to individuals and nonprofit organizations leading projects that aim to empower people with CF.
Grant recipients are selected in consultation with the patient-staffed CF Adult Advisory Council.
Winning programs for this year’s awards are:
- “The Distractors,” a duo by comic actor Rebecca Shook, who is also a CF patient, and her husband, Bobby Shook. The couple provide emotional support to children with CF during hospital visits through songs and skits.
- A virtual exercise program tailored to CF teens to safely boost their physical fitness. Led by Taylor Lewis, a clinical exercise physiologist and pulmonary exercise specialist, the program offers two five-week sessions called Core Strong and Breath Easy.
- I Can Imagine, a program that offers virtual art sessions to adults with CF, with the aim of helping them share their CF experience. Dylan Mortimer, an artist with CF, will lead the sessions and patients’ artwork may be displayed at CF care centers and hospitals across the U.S.
“This year’s grantees offer unique ways to support the various components of wellness,” said Sue Sullivan, head of community partnerships at the CFF.
“The Foundation is proud to issue our annual Impact Grants to individuals who have taken their lived experiences and transformed them into programs that benefit and empower others living with cystic fibrosis,” she added.
Three winners of last year’s Impact Grants were also renewed for an additional year of funding:
- “Dancing Together With CF” is a free, live-streamed dance class for CF patients and their family and friends. The class, which include movements designed specifically for people with CF, simulates a traditional dance studio experience with video group dance classes in multiple genres. After each class, time is set aside for social activities.
- A program expansion by the National Organization of African Americans With Cystic Fibrosis, which aims to connect and engage Black members of the CF community through efforts that include online workshops and an enhanced virtual support network.
- Work Proudly, a program piloted by the Claire’s Place Foundation, that supports adults with CF and their caregivers through job and skills training necessary for work-from-home employment.
Applications for CFF 2022 Impact Grants are to become available in January.
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