Angels’ Place was founded in 1997 by Anita Gilford. While her own son was in treatment for cancer, she found that there were few places her family could turn to for help. Being personally aware of this lack of support, she promised to dedicate her life to helping seriously ill children and their families. Her son won his fight against cancer and is now living a normal life. Anita fulfilled her promise and created Angels’ Place.
Our ongoing mission is children’s respite service. Trained respite volunteers watch over Angels’ Place children at the hospital or provide household aid to the family free of charge. We receive clients through referrals from Children’s Hospital of New Orleans and Ochsner Health System.
When a child has a life-threatening illness, cancer or otherwise, it affects the whole family. The fight to preserve a child’s life is a tough one, so our respite volunteers are there to lend a hand when these families need any kind of basic help around the house or at the hospital. Sometimes, just having a shoulder to lean on makes all the difference.
Angels’ Place provides additional support to our families throughout the year with a gift card program and fun, family events such as Spring Fling, Art for Angels, and Halloween Booville. The largest of these events is our annual Christmas gift drive for all of the children of client families. With the help of hundreds of volunteers and donors, we give Santa a hand in making sure every Angels’ Place family gets a little Christmas cheer, especially if one of the kids will have to spend the holidays in the hospital.