About Us
About Cal’s All-Star Angel Foundation, Inc. – 2011
In June of 2005, our lives were changed forever when our oldest child, Cal Sutter, a 12-year old South Elgin Little League All-Star, was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. The battle with pediatric cancer is a horrible nightmare no child or family should ever have to experience. Yet, like most children, Cal never gave up hope and through it all, he was always more concerned about the well-being of the other children fighting cancer than he was about himself. Even though Cal ultimately lost his battle with leukemia in August of 2006, the courage he displayed throughout inspired us to start Cal’s All-Star Angel Foundation, Inc. – a tax exempt, 501(c)(3) pediatric cancer foundation. Our main mission and purpose – granting wishes and providing financial assistance to kids fighting cancer and their families – continues Cal’s legacy of always caring about others above anything else.
When we started Cal’s Angels just over four years ago who would have thought we would be at this point in such a short amount of time? It’s amazing to think that if it were not for the short but yet impactful life of a boy who had just become a teenager, none of what has occurred over the last four years with Cal’s Angels would have happened. It truly is a complete honor to be the first organization to be invited to become a supporter of the Community Partnerships initiative at the new Children’s Memorial Hospital and everyone that has supported us in any way ought to be very proud of what you have helped accomplish because it never would have been possible without all of you!
We continue to run at 95 cents of every dollar going to the cause and since our founding in April of 2007, generous donors and supporters have enabled us to bring unbelievable amounts of hope and support to more than 100 pediatric cancer patients and their families including:
• Providing family outings to Great America, the Dells, Sea World, Barnum & Bailey Circus and Cubs, Bears and Blackhawks games, shopping sprees at Cabela’s, Best Buy, Target, Macy’s, Carson’s, JC Penney, Footlocker, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and online at Dell while assisting families with medical, mortgage, rent, car and utility bill payments and gift cards for groceries, prescriptions and clothing.
• Supplying numerous iPods and digital cameras plus countless iPads, cell phones, laptops and desktop computers to keep up with homework and stay in touch with friends and family during their battles with cancer while supporting the hospitals and Ronald McDonald House with over a thousand Wii, PS2, PS3, XBOX 360 games and consoles, DVD movies, arts, crafts, games and supplies.
• Becoming the first organization to pledge $200,000 to the Heroes for Life Community Partners Program creating “Healing Environments” for patients and families at the new Children’s Memorial Hospital slated to open in 2012. While the greatest accomplishment is that this helps build a great medical facility forchildren right here in our backyard, it also guarantees that both the inpatient (17th) and outpatient (18th) hematology/oncology floors will forever carry theCal’s All-Star Angel Foundation name and puts us into a level we never thought possible back when we started the organization in 2007. In addition to the “Healing Environments” on the 17th and 18th floors, we have also committed to keeping the playrooms on both floors up to date with games, electronics and other items not yet realized giving us 2 complete floors out of 23 at one of the most renowned medical care centers in the world!
Plus, through our Scholarship and Little League Assistance Programs, we have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to:
• Provide $10,000 scholarships to college-bound baseball players who are all good students and great citizens with a passion for helping others while assisting the local Little League with programs and services beyond their budget including covering the registration fees and cost of equipment for players whose families cannot afford it.
Please feel free to contact us anytime at (847) 960-5317 or at info@calsangels.org for information about our fundraising events including the Dinner, Auction and Golf Outing the second Friday every June, Cubs Rooftop Outing, White Sox Game, Summer Fest every August, 5k Run, 2-Mile Walk and Kids’ Events in September, Toy Drive in December or joining one of our Half or Full Marathon teams. Visit our website to sign up for the newsletters and stay in the loop of everything we have going on all year long – we’d love to have you join us!