22nd Annual Frances Foundation Gala:
Through The Looking Glass A Night Of Wonder And Hope
More than 900 guests and volunteers felt compassion and love throughout the night as heroic pediatric cancer angels were remembered and courageous pediatric warriors were honored.
Jersey Shore Chick-Fil-A operators & teams were presented with our Community Service Award for their commitment to helping those in need; and Marty Lyons & the Marty Lyons Foundation were recognized with our Humanitarian of the Year Award for 44 years of genuine care and assistance to seriously ill children.
In addition, Warrior Bryce’s brother was surprised with the Kids Helping Kids Award and Melissa Heugle was honored with our Volunteer of the Year Award.
With more than 200 gift baskets and raffle items, Phil Bruschi singing Sinatra, a 360-degree photobooth, beautiful décor everywhere, and dancing until midnight, there was no shortage of fun. However, the undeniable uniqueness of our Gala, is our moving and inspiring program focused on our superstar angels and warriors during which we brought warm remembrance to our angels’ families and pure happiness and smiles to the warriors and their families.
2025 Santa Day Party
Thank you for helping us bring joyful smiles to hundreds of deserving children!
Dear Friends,
Because of your generous support, this holiday season the Frances Foundation is bringing joy, comfort, and meaningful support to pediatric cancer warriors and their families when they need it most.
This past Saturday, we proudly hosted our annual Santa Day in the beautifully decorated Red Barn at Bayonet Farm in Holmdel. More than 250 children, families, and volunteers gathered to experience a truly magical day filled with photos with Santa, arts and crafts, face painting, holiday music, hot chocolate, and an array of festive treats. We are pleased to share a few photos here.
Thanks to you, each child selected three gifts from more than 800 toys, games, and gifts. In addition, every attending family and teenager received gift cards to help ease the financial burden of the holidays. Many guests shared that our Santa’s workshop felt like a scene from a Hallmark holiday movie—a moment of joy and normalcy during an incredibly difficult journey.
For warriors unable to attend Santa Day, Santa will be making personal visits or delivering special gifts directly to their homes. Altogether, the Frances Foundation is providing more than $40,000 in holiday support to pediatric cancer families this season—made possible entirely through your generosity.
Your compassion is making a tangible difference in the lives of families facing the unimaginable. Thank you for standing with us and for helping bring light, hope, and smiles during the toughest of times.
May the spirit of this wonderous season be with you and your family today, every day, and throughout the year. Happy Holidays
With heartfelt gratitude,
Bob & The Frances Foundation
2025 Lunar Lights Gala
This past Saturday night, The Frances Foundation held its 21st Annual Gala— The Lunar Lights Gala—Because Every Child Deserves to Shine. It was an amazing event where the lunar lights and bright stars shined down brilliantly on our pediatric cancer warriors honorees and as we remembered our heroic angels who continue to inspire us immensely every day. Love & energy filled our ballrooms from the 6 p.m. extended cocktail hour with multiple food stations, to the 8 p.m. program’s opening song, “Sky Full of Stars,” to warrior Madison’s mom singing “Precious Child - Gone Too Soon” during our angels’ ceremony, to the Rocky theme song igniting our presentations to our warriors, to dancing ‘til midnight…it was an emotional roller coaster filled with laughter, tears, fun, and lots of smiles. It was our privilege to present our 2025 Community Service Award to the Canning Family and GoodSports USA; and the Volunteer of the Year award to The Flammia Family.
Thank you to our sellout crowd of 900 guests, including 41 pediatric cancer families, our sister charities, and our volunteers, as well as supporters unable to attend, for their support. As a 100% volunteer charity, every dollar raised goes to smiles for our warriors and assistance to families in dire need. We share here a few of many of our photos of our warriors and angels’ families attending the gala. Our tributes to our brave warriors and courageous angels’ families is what our gala is all about.
Picnic & Cornhole Tournament
Last Saturday 25 of our pediatric cancer warriors’ & angels’ families joined our cornhole players, supporters , and volunteers, for a day of smiles and fun at our annual Dan & Cathy Shalloo picnic attended by about 250 members of our FF family .
With close to 100 players braving the sweltering heat, the highlight of this event is always our ceremony honoring our courageous young warriors and remembering our inspiring angels.
The kids’ smiles & laughter ruled the day with the monster water slide, face painting, arts & crafts, snow cones, the refreshing water spray pad, hoops, water balloons, music, and a bountiful buffet of bbq, mac & cheese, pizza , cake, ice pops, watermelon & more
The magic of this day is reflected in the attached photos ( more photos on FF facebook and full link coming soon) , and the photo below of 2 amazing FF warriors…DAPHNE & SKYLAR.
Daphne was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma 8 years ago in 2015 at which time the FF brought smiles and assistance to Daphne and her family. Daphne is now a student at Rutgers University, a FF Jr. Trustee, and supervises our kids’ activities at our picnic. So proud of this wonderful survivor now bringing smiles to our warriors in treatment. Skylar is 8 y/o and is fighting ALL ( leukemia) through a grueling treatment schedule having been diagnosed in 12/22. This photo below, and to watch Skylar zip down the water slide , with the biggest smile each time, captures the essence of the FF mission. Our very 1st pediatric cancer warrior Sami S, dating back almost 20 years ago, was 1 of our face painters bringing joy to the kids on Saturday. So proud of Sami & Dapfne and all of our volunteers .
We couldn’t be more grateful to all who joined us on Saturday, and to all who continue to support our mission.
Stay cool, and God Bless, Bob & The FF
Grip and Rip Fore! the Kids - FF 3rd Annual Golf Outing
On Monday April 24th the FF hosted golf outings at 8 am and 1:30 pm at the beautiful Pebble Creek Golf Course. Approximately 260 golfers, volunteers, & guests enjoyed a tremendous day of fun as we raised $45,000 of which every dollar will directly benefit our pediatric cancer warriors and their families.
We are so grateful to all who contributed to the success of this amazing day, with special thanks to these sponsors :
ADT COMERCIAL - BE LIKE JAKE - B.RILEY WEALTH MANAGMENT - BRONX BD. OF BUSINESS AGENTS - CITY NATIONAL BANK - CHICK-FIL-A - COLTS NECK GENERAL STORE & DELI - D'AMBOLA FAMILY - DENNIS HALL & DRH WEALTH MANAGEMENT - DEAN MICHAEL CLARIZIO CANCER FOUNDATION - EASTERN AMERICAN TECHNOLOGIES - FIGHTING CHILDRENS' CANCER FOUNDATION - FLYNN FAMILY - FOREFRONT GROUP & JOHN DELISO - GARDEN STATE LAW ENFORCMENT OFFICERS ASSOC. - HOLMDEL KIWANIS - HOLMDEL PBA LOCAL 239 - JDJ FOUNDATION - KOCH FLORIST - LOMURRO LAW - MIA'S MISSION - MIKE KOGAN CONSULTING - MYA LIN TERRY FOUNDATION - NEW JERSEY NATURAL GAS COMPANY - PASHMAN STEIN LAW FIRM - PINNACLE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT INC. - RJ ELECTRIC - SANSONE JR'S ROUTE 66 AUTO MALL - TILE, MARBLE & TERRAZO - TRUSTPOINT - VILLANOVA LACROSSE - WIEDEMAN FAMILY - CHUCK CICCARELLY & FAMILY