No two Everts Foundation comfort boxes are exactly the same.
That’s because no two families going through cancer are exactly the same.
There are a few things we include in every box, but a big part of what we send is chosen specifically for the people receiving it — not just the person who was diagnosed, but the whole family walking through it with them.
A few things you’ll find in every box
A tumbler for each adult in the household.
Treatment days can be long. There are appointments, waiting rooms, early mornings and plenty of coffee and water along the way. We include one for the person going through treatment and one for the person sitting beside them.
Because both of you are going through this.
One or two notebooks.
There is so much information thrown at you after a cancer diagnosis. Doctor’s names. Medications. Questions you think of at two in the morning. Things you want to remember at the next appointment.
Write it all down. Trust us, you’ll be glad you did.
Enamel pins.
Something small to keep, wear or stick on a bag as a reminder that there are people out there thinking about your family and rooting for you.
A blanket.
Hospitals and treatment centers are cold, and you’re probably going to spend more time sitting in uncomfortable chairs than you ever wanted to.
A soft blanket doesn’t fix much.
But sometimes a little comfort really does help.
The rest is all about your family
This is our favorite part.
When someone requests a comfort box, we ask about everyone in the household.
Who are they?
How old are they?
What do they like?
And we really mean it when we ask.
If your nine-year-old is obsessed with dinosaurs, tell us.
If your teenager loves playing guitar, tell us.
If Dad loves the Ravens, Mom loves gardening or your five-year-old hasn’t stopped talking about Bluey for two years, we want to know that too.
Then we go shopping.
We choose things specifically for the people in your family and put together a box that we hope makes everyone feel like someone was thinking about them.
It takes a little more time than filling every box with the same things.
But that’s the whole point.
Why the whole family?
Because this is personal for us.
When Aryn was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2021, people showed up for our family in incredible ways. There were meals. Messages. Care packages. People checking in. People asking what they could do.
We will never forget that kindness.
But almost everything was understandably focused on Aryn.
Meanwhile, cancer had changed life for the rest of our family too. Her husband was sitting beside her at appointments and treatments, trying to keep everything moving at home while worrying about his wife. Her kids were watching their mom go through something scary that they didn’t fully understand.
Everyone in the house was carrying something.
That’s the part we couldn’t stop thinking about.
Cancer may happen in one person’s body, but the diagnosis reaches the entire family.
That’s why our comfort boxes aren’t made for patients. They’re made for households.
We want the person going through treatment to open the box and find something chosen for them.
But we also want the caregiver to find their name.
We want the kids to dig through the box and discover something picked just for them.
We want everyone in that house to know:
We see you, too.
What does a comfort box cost?
Depending on the size of the family, we typically spend around $100–$200 filling each comfort box with items chosen specifically for that household, in addition to the tumblers, blanket, notebooks, pins and other essentials we include.
But the family receiving it will never receive a bill.
Every Everts Foundation comfort box is completely free.
They’re made possible by people who donate because they believe the same thing we do:
When cancer enters a home, no one in that family should feel forgotten.