reg. no. 89137-4001-RR001
Tara "Boom" Houston Children's Foundation
P.O. Box 20171, St. Thomas, ON N5P 4H4

Financial Assistance

We have designed our application process to be as undemanding as possible – yet gain the information required to make an accurate and informed decision for families in difficult times.

Financial Assistance

We have designed our application process to be as undemanding as possible – yet gain the information required to make an accurate and informed decision for families in difficult times.

Taraboom is here to help!

Financial assistance from Taraboom is intended for families in our community who are going through a difficult financial time. 

These families need help to keep going forward without worrying about some of their monetary commitments when all attentions are on their child. There are hard times when parents actually have to leave their employment temporarily to tend to their ill child. It shouldn’t be a financial struggle to care for your child when they are sick.  

Once our initial criteria has been met and approved, we will assign a family volunteer to the family and follow up with a full application for financial assistance to complete. Our experienced board members are available to their family to help complete and return requested info.

Qualifying Assistance

Taraboom’s mandate is to assist families living in our designated area of assistance that are facing financial difficulties due to a child’s life-threatening illness.

The following are the expenses that the Foundation can provide financial assistance for:

  • Travel expenses to and from hospitals or medical facilities to receive treatment.

  • Accommodation expenses while the child is receiving treatment at a facility that is outside the geographical area within 200 kilometres of the family’s primary residence.

  • Treatment not funded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan or by private insurance held by the family.

  • Assistive devices or specialized equipment required as part of the treatment, and not funded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan or by private insurance held by the family.

  • Funds to subsidize daily living expenses of either parents or the primary caregiver (in the case of single parent families) should they become unable to work because of caring for their child as a result of their illness. Funds may be allocated towards mortgage payments, utilities and/or groceries, car repair for reliable family transportation, in some cases therapy for children or siblings.

No financial assistance is given directly to a family that has qualified. Each family is unique in their delicate situation and assessed on their needs. Each family that qualifies for financial assistance from Taraboom works closely with their Taraboom contact to allocate the approved funds to best suit each family’s individual situation.

Assistance per family is once in a life-time only and the amount is on a per family need as determined.

Taraboom Assistance Coverage Area

So important ….please note: Although we want to help every family that comes our way, we do have an outlined assistance area that limits our reach at the present time. 

Please be sure to check the area to see if you are within our boundaries. We so dislike having to write any letters of regret.

(click on the map for more detailed viewing)

In order to be considered for any financial assistance, these 5 steps must be met.

It is important that you understand we deal directly with the family in need.

A family’s privacy in this most difficult time is very important to Taraboom.

We understand and appreciate the caring aunts & uncles, loving grandparents, neighbours next door and everyone else with the heart’s desire to help a friend or family…. but we MUST be working with the family themselves.

  1. The child must be 17 years of age or younger.

  2. The child must be a resident of Southwestern Ontario – within the assistance area as defined (click here to view)

  3. The child suffers from a life threatening illness.

  4. The family must demonstrate that the child’s illness has placed them in financial hardship and in need of assistance.

  5. You, completing these steps, are the parent or legal guardian of the child/family applying for assistance

Please answer and submit these five (5) steps below to start our application process.

In compliance with the by-laws and mandate of TBHCF*, the information, as you the parent/legal guardian, have chosen to share with us on our website, is for our initial contact only as it pertains to our ability to grant any financial assistance if available. Any information you share with TBHCF is done so at your own risk,
yet held in confidence by the board of TBHCF.

*Tara “Boom” Houston Children’s Foundation, St. Thomas, ON

Thank you for reaching out to Taraboom!

We are a Board of Volunteers, so do keep in mind we too have families and commitments to tend to as well. We do our very best to get back to you quickly!