Compassionate Care Packages

2016 - Care Baskets

In 2016, Marcus celebrated his 40th birthday. As a gift to Marcus, Elizabeth reached out to his friends and family asking them to celebrate Marcus’ heart of giving by donating or giving their time to a person or cause they were passionate about. Each person sent a video sharing a birthday message and a story about how they impacted others in Marcus’ honor. Elizabeth’s gift was bringing care baskets to the cancer floor at Northside Hospital where they had spent over 20 nights together that year. Hospitals can be cold and lonely especially around the holidays so they went shopping together to fill baskets of toys, games, activities for people living with cancer and their families. 

2018 - Go Fund Me

In 2018, Elizabeth was closely impacted by cancer again when her mentor was diagnosed. She planned a trip to go and visit him in Kansas City. John had recently been discharged from the hospital from an unexpected visit. She remembered those days all too well; going to the ED and getting admitted unexpectedly completely unprepared. There were many times she had to purchase toiletries in the gift shop or call friends to bring them personal items. As a gift she put together a care package for her mentor and his wide that could be used as a “go-bag” for the hospital. The first items she knew she needed to add were 2 fuzzy blankets; one for each of them. She received that gift from a friend and it provided so much comfort both physically and for the soul. 

As Elizabeth gifted this package to The Butricks it filled her heart with joy to see it bring joy to their hearts. Marcus’ birthday and the 1 year anniversary of his passing were approaching and she knew then this was how she would get through that time.

Following that visit Elizabeth set up a Go Fund Me account and an Amazon wishlist with an original goal of $500 and sent out a couple social media posts asking for donations. Within one month she raised over $5000 and donated over 100 care packages to cancer warriors in Atlanta, Nashville, and Minnesota. It started out as an idea of how to turn pain into purpose and grew rapidly, impacting more people than was ever imagined.

2019 - Compassionate Care Packages

The care packages expanded in 2019 when Elizabeth’s Dad was diagnosed with Cancer. Two drives have been held in MN and over 40 care packages were delivered to the cancer center at Regions hospital in Saint Paul, MN. Never did she imagine that she would be putting together a care package for her parents; her mother has a care giver and her father as a person living with cancer. The experience of spending days in the hospital with her parents following a couple surgeries and multiple days sitting with her father at treatment reiterated the importance of the need for this important organization providing support and resources for people impacted by cancer. 

2019 - Hospice care package

In 2019 a few days before a close friend passed away Elizabeth traveled back to Kansas City to visit him and his family while he was in home hospice. As she traveled to his home she was reminded of a care package that she and Marcus received while they were in home hospice. A dear friend had sent them a package full of disposable plates, napkins, plasticware, extra soft Kleenex and many other very useful items that you wouldn’t think of until you were in that situation. She saw another opportunity to serve those in transition.