By Tally Reynolds Dettling
Photos by Jordan Wald, summer baker and courtesy the Hope for Autumn Foundation
A mother, compassionate neighbors, a child battling cancer, a Crawfish Boil, a children’s book, and a mural—these are the roots of the Hope for Autumn Foundation.
Amanda Knerr, founder and Executive Director of the Hope for Autumn Foundation, knows firsthand just how important this program is and has helped push it to what it has become today. She, along with the current President Jarrod Morgan, a wonderful assistant—Jill Hunter, and a board of both old and new members, are leading the Hope for Autumn Foundation to do great things for those fighting childhood cancer.
“Hope for Autumn Foundation became an official organization in 2012, but I got involved in 2010 after moving here from Miami with my daughter, Emily. She was six years old and had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” Amanda says. “We had been going through treatments when some neighbors from Ross Bridge, Travis and Anne Keller Diggs, came and asked us if they could throw a crawfish boil for us. They had done it two years before for a little girl named Autumn, who also had cancer, and wanted to do it for us. We said yes, and at the boil I was blown away by the generosity of our neighbors. Emily had just gotten out of a stem cell transplant, and I said I must get involved in this. The next year I helped, and then the following year the Hope for Autumn Foundation was formed.”
The Mission
According to their website, Hope for Autumn’s mission is “to be a beacon of hope, offering support and assistance, while advancing groundbreaking research in childhood cancer therapies.” Amanda continues, “We began with one crawfish boil per year. We’d take the proceeds from that and donate some to research and some to a couple of families, but it has evolved to become a foundation where we can give assistance year-round. We get two to three applications each week from Children’s oncology patient families across Alabama. We help pay their rent, mortgage, utilities—things like that. It’s a year-round fundraising effort now, with the Crawfish Boil being our signature fundraiser.”
Hope for Autumn has four programs: Assistance, Research, Awareness, and Palliative Care. Any patient in the Children’s Hospital [of Alabama] oncology department is eligible for up to $2,000 of assistance per year while in treatment and up to 18 months after treatment. “We have never told anyone no, as long as they fit the criteria,” Amanda says. “The social workers at Children’s function as our eyes and ears and are the ones who share information about our organization. They confirm diagnoses and help us turn around applications, often within a week of the request being made. In an emergency though, like someone’s power is about to be cut off, we’ll pay it that day. We try to make it as stress-free as possible for these parents and families.”
“We also give to research—Developmental Therapeutics, which develops new, wonderful cutting-edge therapies right here at Children’s,” shares Amanda. “And in September, we have our awareness campaign, Give Hope Day, which is the largest cancer awareness day in the state with local schools encouraging students and staff to all wear gold.”
“Lastly, is palliative care. We saw a need, created a position and now fund a part-time nurse practitioner specifically in the oncology department of Children’s Hospital,” Amanda continues. “We like to help these families holistically, and one of these ways is via the palliative care program.” Sasha Ramini is the current palliative care nurse. “She is making a huge impact for patients and their families by helping them walk through their cancer journey,” Amanda says. “She is there to hold their hand through the emotional process and be an advocate for them through their journey.”
The Name & Mural
“The name Hope for Autumn stems from the name of the original girl the boil helped, Autumn—but also because autumn is a time when things are dying off, and you can lose hope. We want to give hope during a time that while beautiful, also seems dark but reminds us of spring and what’s to come,” says Amanda.
“My daughter, Emily, wrote a book while she was in transplant called A Tree Grows at Children’s, and it was basically the first time she had seen a real fall since she was a baby” she continues. “Growing up in Miami, there weren’t a lot of trees that changed colors. When we were crossing the crosswalk to get to the old Children’s Hospital, there was a tree out front with leaves that were turning colors, and we just continued to watch all the leaves turn gold and then fall off. While this was happening, Emily also grew very sick, and her hair fell out, but then spring came, and she began to feel better and the leaves on the tree came back, it felt like a full circle moment…just like the name Hope for Autumn Foundation.”
A beautiful tree mural has been painted on an exterior wall of Good People Brewery in downtown Birmingham using the handprints of those touched by cancer at Children’s Hospital—patients, parents, friends, doctors, nurses and hospital staff. The ‘leaves’ change from gold to green representing the foundations’ name and meaning.
A True Success Story
Emily Knerr, a senior at the University of Alabama, is the epitome of a Hope for Autumn success story. One of the earliest Crawfish Boils honorees, Emily went on to fight cancer three times: first at age six, again at age 13 then again during her senior year of high school. She was diagnosed the third time with a recurrence of cancer from radiation—a new tumor had formed but it was a secondary cancer caused by all the radiation she had in the past. After surgery on that tumor at age 18, just before graduation, she beat cancer for the third time.
In response to her journey, Emily says “I don’t really remember life without cancer. I’m open about talking about it, and it just kind of is what it is. Cancer doesn’t define me, but I like to say it shaped me—in every way possible. It is shaping my future career path—I want to be a Child Life Specialist—and it shapes everything I’m passionate about. One of my biggest things is living life to the fullest, and that comes from my experiences [with cancer]. I believe I had to mature young. I wouldn’t say that was good or bad. I’ve done a pretty good job at regulating [my emotions], learned good coping skills through running, have really great friends, and I feel like my emotional intelligence is really high.”
Junior Board
Hope for Autumn also has a Junior Board, of which Emily served as president its first two years. The Junior Board hosts an annual Christmas gift card drive that raises up to $7,000
for families at Children’s. “A big need shared with us by the social workers is gift cards for restaurants and gas for families,” Amanda says. “Many patients have driven to Birmingham from all over Alabama, so gift cards help relieve some added expenses.”
The Boil
From about 200 people at the first boil in 2010 to approximately 2,000 people now, Hope for Autumn has come a long way in the last 15 years. On the last Saturday in April, 4,500 pounds of crawfish are served by John Hein and numerous volunteers who help him dish it out. “John has been our boiler from the beginning,” Amanda says. “He drives down to Louisiana each year and comes back with a trailer full of crawfish and then hand-mixes the sauce himself. Once you’ve had his crawfish, you’re spoiled for life.” The afternoon is filled with live music, bounce houses, balloon animals, a kids’ DJ dance party and face painting, as well as hamburgers, hot dogs and delicious all-you-can-eat crawfish.
More Opportunities to Help
Another fundraiser for Hope for Autumn Foundation is the Jay Hayes’ Memorial Golf Tournament held on the Friday of Father’s Day weekend each summer in conjunction with Cahaba Brewing. Named for Hayes, a former board member who passed away from pancreatic cancer, the tournament continues his legacy of support for the Hope for Autumn Foundation. Other fundraisers include the Jingle Jam—a silent auction with live music—on the first weekend in December and Cleats for a Cause. “We became family friends with Jamey Mosley [a coach and former football player at Alabama] years ago when Emily was invited to spend a day with a football player and tour the stadium, while she was a patient of Children’s. His older brother, CJ Mosley, helps us with Cleats for a Cause—where he designs a pair of cleats for the brand and his chosen charity and wears them in an NFL game to raise money and awareness for the organization,” explains Amanda.
Last Words
“If I could only say one thing to people about Hope for Autumn, it’s if you are passionate about childhood cancer and helping families in Birmingham and in our state—support local! Keep your dollars where your neighbor, your grandchild, your own child your niece or nephew live,” Amanda says. “My big wish is that we continue to grow in our reach and our scope so that we become a household name. Our social workers tell us we haven’t even scratched the surface yet. There is still so much more help needed, and we don’t ever want to turn a family away!”
