Sharing moments.
Sharing strength.
Sharing strength.
The nation’s first-of-its-kind respite center, built for families facing cancer.
Sharing moments.
Sharing strength.
Sharing strength.
The nation’s first-of-its-kind respite center, built for families facing cancer.
Pete’s Story
Cancer.
“When I heard this word with Pete, I didn’t envision a thirteen-month struggle battling this disease and life without him. But this was my reality. During our journey, we had the unique opportunity to experience a respite from cancer thanks to the generosity of our loving community. Before his death, Pete communicated his vision for a respite center so that other young families could reconnect, rejuvenate and refresh in a safe environment, an environment that allowed for communication, reflection, joy and pain to be shared within a family unit and together with other families in the same journey. Since 1999, FPS has impacted over 12,000 people with this gift of respite. Today, we embark on an endeavor that changes the future of cancer care!”
– Marci Schankweiler, CEO and Founder, For Pete’s Sake Cancer Respite Foundation
Depicted above is Pete Bossow in July 1999, two months before he died. It was during this time when he outlined his original vision of the respite center; the drawing above was done immediately following his passing.
Pete’s Dream
Welcome to Pete’s Dream, a destination for cancer patients, their caregivers, and their children nestled on 32 acres adjacent to Woodloch, a best-in-class hospitality resort. Featuring a building of nearly 35,000 square feet, Pete’s Dream will be the premier respite center in the country that focuses on a holistic approach to care, featuring an environment where families can rest, reset, reconnect, and recharge alongside one another. The construction of this $25M campus is underway, with 88% of the funding secured and an additional $4M raised to increase the endowment by $7M. Join us as we transform respite in the most scalable, sustainable, effective, and efficient way possible.
Project Vision
Designed using 20 years of qualitative and quantitative outcome data from thousands of Respite Recipients and with input from oncology professionals, our Program Outcome Measures collected since the start of community respites at Woodloch Resort statistically demonstrate the impact of respite on the patient, caregiver and their loved ones.
Every space lends for transformative experiences that will change the continuum of care for cancer patients.
For Pete’s Sake Cancer Respite Foundation is excited to share that we are 88% to our goal, with $3M left to raise to meet the capital needs of Pete’s Dream. Reaching this goal will allow us to have no long-term debt on the respite center and permit us to scale effectively with contributions earmarked for capacity building, annual programmatic and operating support and endowment growth.
We are bold in our vision from serving 700 people now to over 4,000 annually when the center is at 100% occupancy, and your generosity is critical to this success. Thus, in addition to capital support, we must secure increased annual and programmatic funding, capacity building support, and additional endowment and planned gifts to sustain our high growth trajectory over the next five years.
An Inflection in Cancer Care
The Vision in Action
A Proven Therapeutic Model
Respite makes a difference. Our respite data and outcomes have been recognized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and published in an April 2020 FPS abstract, title Individual and community respite as supportive care for adult cancer patients, their caregivers and their families. FPS has presented twice at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) national conference on the therapeutic impact of respite on patients, caregivers and their families relative to strengthened communication, relationships, resilience, quality of life and coping with cancer.
Our nominators continually report outcome data to For Pete’s Sake to measure impact. 100% of our nominators report improvement in patients’ and the families’ ability to cope with cancer. Furthermore, oncology professionals themselves report renewed strength and stamina in the clinical setting. Read all of our research and outcomes here.
A Proven Organizational Model
Scalable Respite Model
-
- Expands accommodation inventory by 700%
- Streamlines internal and external operations
- Provides a drivable location in 15 target states
- Drives operational efficiencies
- 38% direct cost reduction: $5,757 to $3,533 per respite
- 23% indirect cost reduction: $11,865 to $8,407 per family for respite and ongoing ancillary support
- Return on capital of $25M construction cost of 6.18 years
- Creates a replicable respite model for the nation
Sustainable Respite Model
- Leverages hospitality partner Woodloch in collaborative agreement
- Capitalizes on Woodloch partnership with access to resort amenities
- Allows for revenue creation when Center not occupied
- Uses robust Respite Volunteer Program to offset costs with 11,000 hours annually
- Extends Respite Volunteer Program to oncology professionals to offset career burnout
- Adds an additional $7 million to FPS endowment
Evidence-Based Therapeutic Outcomes
- 20 years of data demonstrates respite impact
- 100% of nominators report improvement with coping by average of 50%
- Benefits of Community respite recognized by American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in 2020
- Benefits of Family Respite recognized by American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) in 2010 and 2022
- Oncology Nominator, Patient, Caregiver and Children Feedback Available Here
Support FPS Families Today
