Dream Bedrooms for Children with Life-threatening Illnesses-Portland

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Where does a child battling a life-threatening illness go to find peace and solitude? Where does a child battling a life-threatening illness go to get away from the needles and medicines? Special Spaces is a nonprofit 501 C (3) organization that creates dream bedrooms for children battling life-threatening illnesses. Special Spaces evolved on the belief that children facing this journey need a special space for them to heal, recover and find peace. From princess rooms to outer space rooms, from vintage travel rooms to baseball rooms, we interview the child and family to get an in-depth understanding of the child’s wishes and dreams in order to create a unique and medically functional room. A little girl may dream of a princess room while the parents’ are in critical need of storage space for medical supplies. We balance both those needs and wishes to create a safe and comforting space. A Special Spaces room makeover is a very 'special space’ that only the child can dream or imagine that as a director you and your team of contractors, electricians and volunteers come together to create in just one day. 76% of the children we serve are battling a form of childhood cancer. Special Spaces was founded in July of 2004 Knoxville, Tennessee. To date, we have created over four hundred dream bedrooms. Since the airing of the ABC show "Secret Millionaire," in May 2011, Special Spaces has been able to create over thirty-five chapters across the country. We also just did a room makeover in Long Island, New York that was featured on the Today Show. Our volunteers for the day were Natalie Morales, Willie Geist and Al Roker. That aired on NBC Today Show in September.

Once a child is referred to us, a home interview is scheduled with the child and family. The child is the main "designer" of their Special Spaces room makeover. Whatever the child can dream or imagine you will create within the limitations of the budget. Our unique approach utilizes volunteers for 98% of its work force. It also involves your community directly with the needs of the child and family. The amount of volunteers used for the makeover allows for many individuals to be touched by child. Funding and volunteer support are equally important in the implementation of a Special Spaces room makeover. We need volunteer directors in the Dallas area to continue our mission.

You will match monetary donations that you raise for a room makeover with in-kind donations and services. We want our donors to understand that we use their dollars wisely by going out into the community to secure in-kind donations in the form of flooring, paint, painting supplies, construction materials, electronics and many others. Not only does this allow you to stretch donor dollars but to introduce the community to your local affiliate. The importance of the in-kind donations and dedicated volunteers are vital to the success of our program.

The National Office in Knoxville takes care of all legal filings, state filings and all financial reporting in order to maintain compliance. We also fully train you and provide you access to our seasoned directors. We have an annual directors meeting which will take place in San Antonio this November. You will need to be committed to taking on a volunteer position that will require you to fund raise, interact with families, volunteers and local hospitals. You will also set up a "core crew" to support the room makeover such as a seamstress, contractor, "girl Friday"... Due to our investment into all your training, background check, setting up your banking account, insurance and state compliance filings etc there is a there is a $1500 affiliation fee. Our directors who have come on board create approximately 6 bedrooms each year some more. Most spend on average 25 hours per month in the volunteer director position. We have virtually no attrition rate with our volunteers we all become good friends! So if you are interested in "Changing Children’s Lives One Bedroom At a Time" Please don’t hesitate to contact us!