“We can’t solve a medical crisis. But we will do everything in our power to prevent a financial crisis.”
We send our sincere thanks to our friends at the Prelude Cares Network for the opportunity to appear on a special podcast episode with Managing Director Steve Grandizio.
Steve took the time to dig deep and celebrate hope with our Executive Director Kelly L Green and Board Member Kelley Brooks Simoneaux, Esq. Steve’s welcoming and passionate conversation with Kelly and Kelley gave us the chance to share our mission as well as the deeply personal roots that connect us to it.
Watch the full interview now and read a few highlights below.
An Incredible Evolution: What Help Hope Live Means to Kelly
Steve gave Kelly the opportunity to share an “airplane pitch” about our mission:
“We help people facing catastrophic health conditions to meet their out-of-pocket medical expenses in a safe and trusted way.”
As Kelly shared, Help Hope Live is on its third name and multiple meaningful evolutions since our founding in 1983. Created to help rally the communities of heart transplant candidates, our nonprofit has grown exponentially since.
“It’s been an incredible evolution that has never lost its core mission.”
Kelly succintly explained some of the unique advantages of our platform for medical fundraising. Unlike GoFundMe, “We have guardrails and guarantees, and funds are restricted only for medical and related purposes. We verify the condition with a medical professional. We pay direct to vendor as often as we can. We offer the ability to have matching gifts and foundation gifts.”
While our mission stretches from coast to coast and includes clients in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, as Kelly pointed out, our foundations still call back to the personal nature of our history:
“It’s a boutique style of trusted and protected fundraising. We’ve learned this expertise in fundraising from the ground level up.”
Kelly didn’t shy away from acknowledging that fundraising itself can be overwhelming without help, another reason why our mission and our unique approach matters:
“We work one-on-one with every individual who works with us. We guide them through a process that can be really complicated and quite scary.”
One of the biggest barriers our clients face on top of overwhelming out-of-pocket costs is the simple difficulty of asking for help in the first place. Kelly experienced it herself as her mom faced a transplant need.
“When clients say, I don’t want to ask for help. I don’t feel comfortable – that’s real,” she explained:
“What we try to remind them is, think about one time that you were able to help someone else in need and how good you felt about it. We want to help each other. That’s the best of humanity.”
Fundraising with Help Hope Live means the opportunity to “tap into that, letting friends, loved ones, and even strangers help. It helps them feel good, they get a tax deduction, you get the help you need most at a time that is chaotic and fearful.”
And when you activate that community and get the support you need, your own capacity to impact others multiplies:
“When you’re in a better place, you’re going to help other people.”
Passion, Hope, and Independence: What Help Hope Live Means to Kelley
“A lot of us involved with Help Hope Live have our story, our why, from our own experiences, and it pours our passion into it.”
Injured in a car wreck due to an unsafe seatbelt at age 16, “In that one second, I was paralyzed. My life, my family’s life, everything I knew, everything I thought I knew changed.”
After injury, Kelley graduated college and law school and founded the Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm. “I’m a rare lawyer because I’m a happy lawyer,” she explained:
“What was my story 25 years ago is now my life’s work.”
Kelley is exceptionally well-versed in our mission with a clear passion for what we do – and why it matters. “Our reality is that health insurance covers some, but the needs just keep going up,” she explained. “There’s a coverage gap.”
In her own journey after injury, her family and community faced multiple out-of-pocket expenses that were critical for her immediate health stabilization, her rehabilitation, and her return home. From home accessibility to transportation, every opportunity to increase health, wellbeing, and independence became priorities for her family.
“Help Hope Live is so incredible because it fills that gap: to get transportation, to get hand controls, a modified van. To allow people to get back out in the community.”
One aspect of Help Hope Live’s advantage that Kelley was quick to emphasize is feeling connected to a larger network of support and expertise at a time of need:
“Help Hope Live is that automatic entry point where people can start getting help. You are not alone in anything. You have people guiding you through the process.”
Kelley and Kelly both observed that while some medical challenges are temporary, many are lifelong. “There may not be an endpoint…not one month, five months, or one year,” Kelley explained:
“Help Hope Live isn’t a one-moment organization. We can be a part of that person’s journey over their life.”
We appreciate Kelley’s extra shoutout to The Plaintiff Fund, a Compassion Fund with Help Hope Live that is enabling $5,000 grants and an additional $5,000 match in honor of clients dealing with legal proceedings.
How You Can Help Hope Live
Want to help? Kelly made it simple to understand how to get involved in our mission from anywhere:
“Come to our website, make a donation. We also have fundraisers you can give to or participate in,” like Hope Travels on May 16, our annual gala, and Bags of Hope.
Kelley will be participating in our Hope Travels event from her home base in D.C. again this year – and you can, too!
Individuals and families impacted by overwhelming medical costs can request help today.
“Let’s figure out how to activate a community of support to make sure those out-of-pocket expenses aren’t what stops you from healing or thriving.”
