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Helping families spend more time with their NICU babies...

Fund-A-Need

Our primary goal is to raise money to purchase gas cards for families so that they can visit their sick babies in a Sacramento area Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). By participating in our Fund-A-Need program, you decide how many gas cards you would like to purchase for these families. Click here to find out more.Our next goal is to purchase a Friends of NICU home outside of Mercy San Juan's NICU in Carmichael, CA. Your donations will help us reach that goal!

Thank you to our sponsors!

- Community Neonatology of Sacramento (Title Sponsor)- California Family Fitness- Folsom Physical Therapy- Charlie Garrido and Mark Roberts- Wells Fargo- Premier Pools- Greater Sacramento Pediatric Associates, Inc.Without your support, this event wouldn't be possible. Thank you!
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About

Our Mission
Our Story
Testimonials

Our Mission

Our goal is simple: help families with sick babies in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) spend more time with their babies.NICUs aren't a staple of every hospital and often times families travel hundreds of miles to their respective NICU. Spending time with their babies is essential: studies have shown that the more time parents spend with their NICU babies, the quicker they recover and the quicker they get to go home. Our goal is to help families in need with gas cards, food vouchers and hotel vouchers so that they can spend more time with their sick babies.We are 501 C 3 approved non-profit organization and only help families - we do NOT give money to hospitals, medical clinics or any other health related institutions. We are simply a means of families helping other families. We do not receive any grants or government related funds: we completely rely on the generous donations from individuals and sponsors.The success of our foundation lies with the number of great volunteers who donate their time and energy to help. Most of our volunteers didn't go through a NICU experience but they feel a need, a calling, to give to those who are in need. Imagine if you will...your baby is sick and you can't visit her because you don't have enough money to put gas in your car... To us, that's unacceptable so we are doing something to help. Please help us give more- donate today and help a family bond with their baby on their road to recovery. With great appreciation,Elanie and Tim PurkisFounders

Our Story

How it all got started...

"Hmmm...this is interesting," Elanie's Dr. said while performing an ultrasound during a routine appointment in the summer of 2005. "Your uterus appears to be larger than with your first-born. Let's go ahead and do an advanced ultrasound.""What does that mean?" Elanie asked. The doctor responded, "Well, let's make sure the due date is correct."The ultrasound ended up showing that Elanie was pregnant with twins."Holy cow, are you kidding me? Twins? Boys, girls, one of each?"Those answers couldn't be confirmed at that time but needless to say, we were ecstatic at the news of becoming parents of twins. We immediately called family and friends to share this exciting news.A short time thereafter, things started going a little sideways.Elanie experienced a very difficult first trimester. Nothing compared to the first pregnancy with Kevin when she ate Cheetos and lemons...well, not at the same time. With the twins, she couldnt keep anything down. She was put on meds so that she could tolerate food. Around four months of pregnancy, Elanie noticed some blood and immediately called the doctor to see what that was all about. Tests were done, additional ultrasounds conducted but no one could give an answer as to why that was happening. Numerous trips to the emergency room were made due to this unknown condition.A few days before Christmas (26 weeks of pregnancy), Elanie's water broke. It was Ryan's water that broke...rather...leaked. The water would stop as Matthew was actually plugging up this unknown hole in Ryans sac. After a handful of ultrasounds, Elanie was sent home on Christmas Eve on bedrest.As time went on, things started getting worse. We found out that one baby was developing according to plan, but that the other baby wasn't doing so well.We met with our Neonatal specialist a number of times (an incredibly wonderful, caring doctor), and each time we received different news. The majority of the time, we were faced with bad news: the possibility of one baby having hydrocephalus (water on the brain that can cause mental disabilities) or the fact that we may be faced with losing one baby to save the other. Needless to say, it was pure hell. The worst part was that neither one of us could do anything to change the outcome. Only time would tell what would happen and time wasn't on our side: these babies wanted to come out.Fast forward to Friday, January 13th (yes, Friday the 13th).Tim's parents had come to visit for the weekend and around lunch, Elanie felt what she thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. At 3am, it became unbearable so we went to the hospital not knowing what would be in store. The doctors and nurses tried to stop the contractions but they weren't slowing down so at 7am, our twin boys were welcomed into the world-10 weeks prematurely. It all went so fast that we never had a chance to think about what was happening. All we knew was that our twin boys were born and alive.The only exposure we had to premature babies was what we had seen on TV: babies that fit into the palm of your hand. When Matthew and Ryan were born, they were so much bigger than that so Tim proceeded to yell, "Oh my God El - our babies are huge!"Hardly, but not too bad. Matthew was born at 3 lbs 7 oz and Ryan was born at 3lbs 2oz.We were able to see Matthew for a few moments but Ryan was immediately rushed into the NICU - he wasn't breathing. Matthew joined him in the NICU shortly thereafter and Elanie was taken to a recovery room.The Dr. came into the recovery room a few hours later and told us, "Well, everything appears to be OK, but your boys are pretty sick - one in particular."Not knowing the severity, Tim thought to himself, OK, fine-give them some Tylenol and let's get out of here! If it were only that easy...Matthew ended up being in the NICU for 6 weeks while Ryan was there for 10 weeks. During this time, we met some of the most incredible people-true heroes in our eyes. The nurses and doctors at the NICU were beyond wonderful. They took such great care of our boys and we never worried about whether they were in good hands.During this time, we also met a number of parents who struggled to visit their kids due to financial struggles. That, to us, just wasn't right. If the only thing standing in the way of parents visiting their sick baby/babies is money, then we have to do something to help. That is how the idea of the Friends of NICU Foundation came about.We were blessed with great support from our families and unbelievably great friends. Without them, we never would have made it through this challenging time. We will forever be grateful to each and everyone of them and it is because of them that we decided to give back by starting the Friends of NICU Foundation.With the greatest appreciation,Elanie and Tim PurkisFounders
el and twins

Elanie with her twin boys in Mercy San Juan's NICU

Testimonials

We could not thank you enough for what you & your organization have done for us while we were at Mercy! I'm not sure if you knew, but little baby got transferred to UC Davis to under go intestinal surgery. We are super happy with the facility over here, but nothing is like the warmth and comfort we got from the people & out reaches we got at Mercy! We miss everyone so much, this place definitaly has some "getting used to". Anyways, you are in our thoughts day in & day out, we really are looking forward to helping out the "friends of nicu" once we get past all of these new challanges & are settled in back home. Thank you again for what you have created... It is amazing & really makes Mercy's NICU a wonderful place to have a baby.I would just like to thank you and your foundation for everything you have done for my family. My son was born 8 weeks early and was in the NICU for a month and a half. Thank you for gas cards so we could go and drive to see him, and for the numerous amounts of gift cards we received just to be able to survive for that time period. From the bottom of mine and my husbands heart, Thank you. The impact has been tremendous and I thank god everyday for the support I was able to receive.My son was born at Mercy San Juan. He was very sick at birth and had to spend about 3 weeks in the NICU. I live in Oroville about an hour and a half away from the hospital. Commuting back and forth everyday would have been extremely expensive for me without the help of friends of NICU I wouldn't have been able to afford it. I wanted to tell you thank you so much for all of your help and gratitude during this hard time for me and my other two little girls. Also the care package and diaper bag were wonderful. I'm glad to say that my son got to come home on Friday, March 21st and he is doing much better now. Thank you once again for all your generosity and great work! ... thank you for you and your husbands kindness and contributions towards this [friends of NICU] effort you are truly appreciated and inspirational!
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Fundraisers

Article 1

Celebration of Miracles 2009

Our inaugural event! Although we were very excited about the first, big Friends of NICU fundraiser, we weren't quite sure what to expect. A lot of unknowns, uncertainties and plenty of nerves preceeded the event but our amazing group of volunteers and generous sponsors helped us get the first event off the ground. The evening was held at Folsom's Lake Natoma Inn - a great venue with a wonderful staff who helped us create the right atmosphere and ambience for Celebration of Miracles #1!Courtney Dempsey from CW31 joined us as the celebrity MC as attendees strolled through the silent auction areas hoping to win one of many wonderful prizes. The live auction included great items such as a signed Rolling Stones litho, a trip to Chicago, a dinner party catered by a professional chef, a photography package by Dawn Roberts Photography and an exclusive Dining Divas experience.Our goal was to raise $10,000. We wanted to set realistic expectations. We were shocked and overwhelmed with the generosity of the attendees in the room- our first fundraiser was a success- we raised $35,000! WOW! What a way to kick off the Celebration of Miracles fundraising series and one thing was sure- we needed to start preparing for Celebration of Miracles 2010, fast!Please click on the Celebration of Miracles Videos link to the left to see a recap of the night. We hope it inspires you to join us this year for Celebration of Miracles 2011 to be held at Folsom's Lake Natoma Inn on Saturday November 5th. Thank you!

Article 2

Celebration of Miracles 2010

After a successful inaugural Celebration of Miracles, the bar had been raised for year 2. We decided to keep the same format: dinner, dancing, as well as a silent and live auction at the same venue, Folsom's Lake Natoma Inn. We had secured a number of great sponsors (Stantec, Wells Fargo, Gloria Henderson, Schubert Flint PA, Gold Country Media) and our event was ready to go. The evening started at 5pm with appetizers and wine tasting as we opened up the silent auction tables. As the silent auction tables started to close down, everyone moved to the main dining area where they enjoyed a delicious dinner served by the wonderful Lake Natoma Inn staff.The evening then proceeded with some heartfelt stories from parents who received assistance from the Friends of NICU foundation as well as Doctor Getman and Doctor Kahle. The live auction followed the speeches and included wonderful items such as a Disneyland trip, a Polar Express experience, a real fighter pilot experience, an instant wine cellar as well as a Lance Armstrong Tour de France riding cap and George Hinkapi riding jersey. As the live auction came to a close, we were amazed at the number of people who came up to us and gave us additional donations because they were touched by the night's events and felt the need to give more. Thank you.The next week was spent tallying up the numbers- we wanted to beat last year's total of $35K and we were astonished at our end total: $45,000! Absolutely amazing and much needed. We have big plans for our foundation - we want to add a housing component to eliminate the extensive driving parents have to endure. Stay tuned for additional information on this endeavor and join our mailing list to get the latest and greatest Friends of NICU news!

Article 3

Celebration of Miracles 2011

Another smashing success for Friends of NICU! $40,000 was raised on Saturday, November 5th! Thank you to our sponsors:- Community Neonatology Group of Sacramento (Title Sponsor)- Wells Fargo- Premier Pools (mention Friends of NICU when you purchase a pool and Friends of NICU receives the referral fee, up to $500!)- Sacramento Pediatric Association- California Family Fitness- Folsom Physical Therapy- Charlie Garrido and Mark Roberts.The success of this event shows us that we live in a great, caring community who sees the value of the bonding experience between parents and babies from day 1. Our next goal is to purchase a Friends of NICU house! Please help us by donating - just click the PayPal Donate button on the left hand side of the page and donate as much as you're comfortable with - then double it!

Celebration of Miracles Videos

Celebration of Miracles 2009
Celebration of Miracles 2010

Watch our Videos

Sit back and enjoy! Hope it gets you excited about joining us this year- tickets will be on sale soon enough!

Celebration of Miracles 2009
Celebration of Miracles 2010

Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Celebration of Miracles Videos

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Contact Us

Ryan and Matthew Purkis 2006 NICU Graduates

Friends of NICUPO Box 6242Folsom, CA 95763elanie_friendsofnicu.com916-276-0373

Press

In the News

Friends of NICU has been featured on Sacramento's CW31 (CBS 13), Sacramento's ABS News 10, Folsom Telegraph as well as the Sacramento Bee. Below are the screen shots of the associated events as unfortunately the links to these items have been placed into an archive bin!

ABC News 10's Good People
ABC News 10's Good People
ABC News 10's Good People
ABC News 10's Good People
mark s allen bodycast
mark s allen bodycast 1
mark s allen bodycast 2
mark s allen bodycast 3
Sacramento Bee Article
sac bee 2
Folsom Telegraph Article

Fund-A-Need

Product 1

Purchase Gas Cards for NICU Families

WIth today's gas prices and a recessionary economy, families are having a tough time visiting their sick babies as often as they would like. By purchasing gas cards on their behalf, you are directly impacting their life in a very positive way. Many families travel from Redding, Chico, and Yuba City to the Sacramento area to receive the proper care for their sick babies. A roundtrip from Redding to Sacramento can cost a family as much as $50-$75. You can see how that can add up if they want to visit their sick babies a few days a week or every day. That is where you can make a difference - purchase 1,2, 5, 10 gas cards and make an immediate difference in their lives and the well-being of their sick babies.

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Price: $50

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