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A family’s life and sense of normalcy can become upended when a child is diagnosed with cancer or a severe blood disorder.
Daily routines are altered, and sacrifices are made. A parent or guardian might decide to quit his or her job to care for a child. With the loss of income, it can be challenging to pay bills and expenses.
To help children and families impacted by pediatric cancer and serious blood disorders, Knox and Priscilla Haynsworth formed the nonprofit Clement’s Kindness to honor their son Clement, who passed away in 1998.
The couple have lived in Greenville — Knox’s hometown — since they were married in 1960 and had three children. While both stayed active in the community, Knox worked as a civil lawyer and Priscilla was a homemaker.
The Haynsworths established the nonprofit at the Community Foundation of Greenville to serve as a lifeline for Upstate families by helping them meet their financial, medical, psychological, social and emotional needs.
Clement’s Kindness provides needed funding
Sandra Miller, the nonprofit’s administrator, said Clement’s Kindness provides financial assistance to families for expenses such as car payments, utility bills, rent and more. To receive funding, a family must have a child 21 years old or younger with pediatric cancer or a serious blood disorder.
“On average, we help probably 150 families a year,” Miller said. “Some of these families are repeat families because cancer’s not typically just a one-year situation. It’s also important to note blood disorders are mostly — especially sickle cell (anemia) — lifetime.”
For the past 21 years, Clement’s Kindness has provided more than $2 million in direct financial support to Upstate families.
“Through the generosity of the Haynsworth family, many families who were barely able to make it through the long course of treatment would get respite from all the things they had to do for the children in the family,” said Dr. Cary Stroud, an associate at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital’s Supportive Care Unit.
Over the years, the nonprofit has expanded its outreach to fund programs and services at:
- Prisma Health Bi-Lo Charities Children’s Cancer Center which includes its school intervention program, facility upgrades, survivorship clinic and more.
- Bon Secours Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program, including its activity center and mobile activity carts.
Funding has also been donated to create facility additions and an on-site infirmary at Prisma Health’s Camp Courage, a recreational and educational summer camp for children and teens being treated for cancer or blood disorders.
Throughout the year, Clement’s Kindness hosts various events and excursions outside the hospital setting for the children and their families to enjoy. AnneMarie Haynsworth Odom, the granddaughter of Knox and Priscilla and a Clement’s Kindness board member, said her favorite event is the holiday party where patients and their siblings receive donated presents.
“That was something that we could do for them, especially around the holiday season, to allow them to enjoy some of those special childhood memories in a way that was safe,” Odom said.
Knox and Priscilla Haynsworth attribute the Clement’s Kindness expanded funding efforts to the fundraising events and contributions from individual donors, schools, organizations and corporations such as TD Synnex, which raises funds through its Share the Magic program. Families who had been previously supported by Clement’s Kindness have also gone on to raise money and serve on the nonprofit’s advisory board.
“It is amazing, just amazing,” Priscilla Haynsworth said.
Maintaining a legacy
As Greenville’s population grows, so does the number of children and families in need.
“We don’t want to have to turn a family or child away and, thankfully, that’s not something that we’ve had to do,” Odom said.
Suzy Haynsworth, daughter-in-law of Knox and Priscilla and a Clement’s Kindness board member, explained that the organization is now focused on raising funds to make the nonprofit self-sufficient for years to come.
“We all want Clement’s Kindness to outlast us,” Suzy Haynsworth said.
Clement’s Kindness is currently working to raise $2.5 million for its endowment fund by 2025. The goal is for the organization to have long-term sustainability and continue to provide funding and impact generations to come.
Since 2002, Clement’s Kindness has donated:
- $2 million in direct financial support
- $1.6 million to the Prisma Health Bi-Lo Charities Children’s Cancer Center
- $100,000 to Bon Secours Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program
- $250,000 to Cancer Survivors Park
