On January 29, 1999, less than a month before his 18th birthday and before Matthew could graduate with his high school class, God called him back home.
Matthew had been a true blessing and had been a very positive influence on his family and everyone he met. The Matthew Foster Foundation was established one month after his passing to continue his positive impact. The Foundation’s mission is to assist families with children that are suffering from cancer by providing financial assistance to cover some of their extraordinary costs. Some, but not all, types of assistance consist of payments for rent, medical expenses, co-payments, insurance, gift cards for food and gas, car repair and funeral expenses when the child loses their battle with childhood cancer. We provide assistance to an average of 42 WNY families each year including 6-7 families with funeral expenses.
The Foundation works very closely with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Essential Care, Oishei Children’s Hospital and other local organizations. These organizations identify families of children with cancer that are having a difficult time with the huge financial burden that accompanies their battle. After these needs are identified and qualified the Foundation provides families with financial assistance. Since our inception we have assisted over 700 Western New York families battling childhood cancer.
We are an all volunteer organization so 88% of the money we raise goes to our mission,