Our family is impacted by Juvenile arthritis. All charity donations are appreciated and help further education on the disease.
This group does a great job providing families which have a child with this chronic illness with access to the latest medical information and with an increased support system.
Awesome organization, wonderful people. Their Jambalaya Jubilee camp has been something my child has looked forward to for 14 years. The Children and Arthritis team keeps it affordable for families -- many of whom are struggling with medical bills. We appreciate all they do for us.
This organization was the best thing that happened to our family. We gained so much knowledge about Arthritis as well as making lifelong friends from all over the South that continues to serve as a support to us.
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This organization has helped our family for 22 years. We started attending the retreat when my daughter was 3 years old. She is now 25 and we are able to pay it forward now. Our family still attends the retreats and speak with families just beginning the journey. When my daughter was first diagnosed, there was no internet so by attending the retreat, I was able to learn so much about arthritis from all the doctors available at the retreat. I was also able to meet other parents dealing with the same kind of the problems. My daughter was able to meet other children just like her. Some of these families we met in the beginning have become very good friends even though we are separated by 100's of miles. As a parent, I will say the best thing about the retreat is the fact that it empowered me with knowledge. I always felt so helpless because I had no control over the disease but knowledge is power! As a parent, it also gave me the feeling that I was not alone. I knew I could call other parents at any time for help or just a sounding board when I was feeling hopeless.
I know that without this retreat every year, m daughter would not be the confident young woman she is today. Because of the retreat, she knew all things were possible. She met other kids going through the same thing and they boost each other up.
Great people! My daughter looks forward to Camp Jambalaya Jubilee every year. She has this group of friends that understand treatments and medications, even though they don't get to see each other but once a year. This camp has put patients, like my daughter, in contact with others in similar circumstances and, thanks to mobile technology and social media, offer them an expanded support group beyond their family and local friends.
They are doing well in teaching people about arthritis and letting them know how different their lives(people with it) are from a normal persons everyday life and experiences. They are also doing well in treating all their guests with care and respect and also making their experience there a great one.
My family loves going to jambalaya jubilee every year. It's our 3rd year and we learn from the doctors but we learn even more from the other parents. And we have a blast while we are there. We are so thankful to have this non-profit in our lives.
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Brings families together with physicians and family counselors to support them. Connecting physicians with families for an entire weekend, educating children and parents about rheumatic diseases.
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Children and Arthritis does an amazing job reaching families of children with rheumatic diseases. They are informative, caring, and just awesome! My family looks forward to this retreat every year!!
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Children and Arthritis is amazing non-profit! They go above and beyond to take care of the families they help, and the children they represent. They make sure families who are affected by Arthritis or any Rheumatic disease get the information and knowledge help their children in their battles. Just an amazing nonprofit group!!
The organization does a wonderful job in providing resources to families at minimal costs while still maintaining world class programming.
When I first brought my daughter to the Juvenile Arthritis Camp, I was lost and confused. This was all new and I was overwhelmed! This foundation basically took me by the hand and walked me thru it a step at a time until I could breathe. Now, I’m a pro! That year at camp changed our lives! Thank you Dr. Preslee!!!!!
Our 1st year of camp we drove 12 hours to attend because our rheumatologist highly recommended Jambalaya Jubilee (hosted by Children and Arthritis). We found our "tribe." Unfortunately due to sickness my son only got to stay one night. After the drive home, he was hospitalized. Dr & Mrs Presley kept a check on him. Families we only spent a few hours with called, text, & sent gifts from the hospital gift shop for him. We were bombarded with love & support. We're so thankful for the resources, information, & true support this organization provides! It's not a club you want to be part of, but it's one you're incredibly thankful to have in your corner!
My family has participated in Jambalaya Jubilee for a few years, which is supported by Children and Arthritis, Inc. This camp has offered us a wonderful time to bond with other families who are also dealing with similar illnesses. We also are offered the most current medical information from many doctors and therapists. My children have made wonderful lifelong friendships at the camp. We consider the families and staff our Jambalaya Jubilee family!
Jambalaya Jubilee has been a blessing for my son and I for the last 2 years! The first year ~ my son was newly diagnosed so it was very emotional for me ~ as a parent. My son was 12 so he was a bit leary... But, on the (6 hour) bus ride home ~ he was asking if we were going back the next year! We did. The camp is truly a blessing. Getting to spend time a/ others that really have a true understanding of what we're going through! The children get to spend time a/ other kids experiencing the same things. Yr parents as well. Not to mention the teachings/counseling that is given to the parents/guardians. We are SO looking for to the 2019 Jubilee!!
My child was diagnosed with systemic jra when she was 4. She started going to Jambalaya Jubilee at 4 and she is now 15. She loves to go and anticipates going every year. She is around children she can relate to. She doesn’t feel alone with her disease when she’s there. This is the most wonderful thing that Dr Presley and his wife could ever give to these children. As a parent I get a lot out of it too. I learn a lot from the other parents, doctors, and therapists that are there. My child loves it so much she wants to volunteer when she gets too old to be a camper.
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Jambalaya Jubilee is an amazing weekend for families with children with arthritis! It's a time for the children to meet children who share their struggles. Parents get to share their experiences with other parents and gather an overwhelming amount of very helpful information. I thoroughly enjoy this camp and take home a lot of info every year. The staff is the greatest!
They bring doctors and specialist directly to parents while allowing children with clinic diseases to bond and form special friendships. They are a wonderful organization bringing knowledge and hope to many families.
This is the friendliest and most helpful group of people at a conference that we ever have been to! This is truly a family affair and they pour their hearts into it each and every year to help families learn, speak, gain ideas and fellowship with other families going through the same trials as them.
The children make friends and get to see that they are not alone in their journey. This alone is worth more than any other experience combined!
I highly recommend this nonprofit especially because they know that the financial struggles for these families are real and they make this conference affordable for all!
Please help them help more families because childhood is to short for these children to suffer alone.
My daughter was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis before the age of 2. This non profit was amazing with support, information. The also got us connected with other families, doctors, educational material about this disease. Children and Arthritis is amazing.
Jambalaya Jubilee was my family's first encounter with other families and children dealing with juvenile arthritis. The support and information received has been invaluable.
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Providing children with arthritis and their families a fun weekend retreat mixed with multiple professional seminars by recognized medical experts and providing continuing medical support and advice year around
Children and Arthritis Jambalaya Jubilee has helped our RARE family & our kids so much. We are forever grateful. Thank you!
They go above and beyond for their families. Their fees are minimal, they provide FREE busses for those out of state, and do their best to plan fun activities.
They help so many kids find others in similar situations. With more funding they could serve even more kids!
It was truly an amazing experience for both my child and myself! VERY informative and yet not boring!! We thoroughly enjoyed it!
Children and Arthritis helps families of children with various rheumatology diagnoses get support and information about the most recenes, and medications from experts in the field. They also provide these families a unique opportunity to gather for a weekend retreat tlies make connections and become life long friends. None of this would be available without Children and arthritis.
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They make it possible for children and their families to have a weekend of education and family fun without breaking the bank!
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What a wonderful organization this is! We have attended the weekend Jambalaya Jubilee camp for twelve years and it is something my child looks forward to year after year.
I was impressed with this camps ability to be very professional in relating to parents and the children who attended, the basic information of their illness from doctors, parents and the counselors who offered so much information to ease the burden to the children and parents in attendance. I left with a better understanding of what parents and their child's pain experience and family dynamics that arthritis brings to families. I was invited by my daughter to attend with my granddaughter who has arthritis. It was a weekend well spent.
I really liked that I was able to meet many people that I already knew from other camps and met many more new family and made new friends.
We just left our 11th Jambalaya Jubilee weekend, having first attended shortly before my child turned three years old.
Words cannot adequately express our gratefulness to the founders, staff and volunteers who make this weekend possible year after year. This is an amazing organization with people who care tremendously about families who are just starting on the journey as well as those who have been on it for years.
There are online support groups for parents who want to connect, but there is something truly unique and wonderful about connecting in person -- having the opportunity to not only connect with other families, but also to talk with doctors and therapists. The kids also connect with each other and see they are not alone with all the doctor appointments, medications and other things that come along with their diagnoses. It also provides them with a fun break from it all.
My child looks forward to this weekend all year. It is nice for a change to have something to look forward to that is associated with this illness!
The Presslys have hearts of gold for starting this weekend and for continuing it for almost 30 years. We will be forever grateful to them!
This is our second year. It is something that my daughter looks forward to every year. Can't tell you what this means to our family. God bless the volunteers!!!
I can't think of any way that they could improve on the camp, because everything they had planned for us was well organized!!!!! And I loved getting to meet people that are going through what I'm going through!!!
The chance to meet with doctors and therapists is priceless. Kids have a wonderful time! Great opportunity!
Fantastic service for families that are afflicted with this disease. Great education for parents and children have a fantastic time. Only recommendation would be a separate breakout group for single parents
Jambalaya Jubilee is a great camp for my family. My 10 year old sister was diagnosed with Poly JRA in 2015. This camp is a great place for her to develop friendships with other children who understand what she is going through. It's a wonderful camp for parents to also build a strong support system with other parents who are experiencing financial and emotions burdens from their child's chronic illness. Parents are also able to get questions answered from professionals! Please help keep this camp going. We plan to attend every summer until my sister turns 18 and then we will volunteer!! #familystrong
Jambalaya Jubilee is a great camp for my family. My 10 year old was diagnosed with Poly JRA in 2015. This camp is a great place for her to develop friendships with other children who understand what she is going through. It's a wonderful camp for parents to also build a strong support system with other parents who are experiencing financial and emotions burdens from their child's chronic illness. Parents are also able to get questions answered from professionals! Please help keep this camp going. We plan to attend every summer until my daughter turns 18 and then we will volunteer!! #familystrong
We have be truly blessed to have found this camp sponsored by children and arthritis. This our first time and with gods will it won't be our last. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts very informative and wonderful knowledgable staff and physicians. Thank you. Lillie luna
This is our third year and my daughter enjoys it every year. She wants to come back as a volunteer when she gets to old to attend as a camper! This event provides so much information, encouragement and support. We have great friends that we contact through social media and get to see each year. The kids pick up just like they never left each other and are so supportive of each other. The parents support each other. The staff provides rheumatology updates for parents, rheumatology panels, consults with volunteer doctors and family therapists. The whole atmosphere is just wonderful and we've become a very big extended family with one very specific need: a place our children can get support and encouragement and find friends who live with the same diseases they do.
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I took my daughter to the Jambalaya Jubilee camp for the first time this year. At lunch time the second day, she was already making plans to attend next year's event! The doctors, family therapists, staff and volunteers all work together to make a very enjoyable retreat for children with arthritic and rheumatic conditions and their parents, siblings and extended families. They work really hard to maximize the experience on as little expense as possible, keeping the cost of attendance low. I really appreciate the vision and foresight of Dr. and Mrs. Tom Pressly in founding this charity and the outreach of the Jambalaya Jubilee retreat.
This is our first year to attend the Jambalaya Jubilee. My 9 year old daughter was diagnosed with Poly-JRA in July 2015. She found out about the camp last year when she was diagnosed. She counted down to camp this year. She was eager to spend time with other children that understood the pain she was experiencing. As a parent I looked forward to learning more about JRA and also meeting other parents that were experiencing the same issues; not just day-to-day issues, also the emotional issues from dealing with the diagnosis. The camp was everything we expected and more. We look forward to coming again next year to spend time with our new family.
This is a gem of a nonprofit organization made up of many caring individuals who give so freely of their time to touch the lives of many families from the newly diagnosed to the "old-timers" who return because of the support and friendships we have made over the years.
We have been attending Children and Arthritis' Jambalaya Jubilee since my daughter's diagnosis ten years ago. She talks about the Jambalaya Jubilee all year and looks forward to seeing her friends at camp whom she sees only once a year. The weekend focuses on fun, but there is an understanding that they all share something in common and they are not alone.
As a parent, I appreciate knowing that there is a place where we, as a family, can go once a year to hear the latest updates on pediatric rheumatology, ask questions of a panel of pediatric rheumatologists, chat with other medical specialists, and be able to connect in-person with other parents dealing with similar struggles -- and spend quality time together as a family and with other families.
Treatments for juvenile arthritis can be overwhelming for many families so I appreciate how the cost to attend Jambalaya Jubilee weekend is kept incredibly affordable for all that we do during the weekend.
We will be forever grateful to the Presslys and everyone involved in organizing and running the wonderful Jambalaya Jubilee weekend, including George, Sheri, the pediatric rheumatologists, the family therapists, Cassie, medical specialists for "doc in the box," sponsors and the volunteers.
We enjoyed all our campers and terrific staff that donated their time to another great Jambalaya Jubilee!
Their summer camp for children with arthritis and rheumatic diseases and their families is great! Fun for the kids, education for the parents, and bonding for all.
All I can say is AMAZING !! The children that attend have a magical time. They make new friends, experience things they never have before. It's just wonderful !!!
We absolutely love Jambalaya Jubiliee!!! The expertise and support for parents coupled with the fun activities for the kids is the perfect combination! This is always the highlight of my kids' year!
This is a great nonprofit that makes such a difference in the lives of the children and families affected by rheumatic diseases.
I have worked with this organization since it's inception. The families of the children with arthritis use it as a source for information, activities, support as they deal with the pain/problems of the child(ren). The children who attend the annual camp enjoy the activities designed to allow them to interact on a "normal" level. From art projects to swimming... the kids get to be kids. It is a wonderful experience to be a volunteer and watch/participate in their fun.
Children and Arthritis is an exceptional nonprofit that truly makes a difference in the lives of children with arthritis and their families. The unique ability of this camp to help families to realize that they are not alone in the everyday struggles caused by rheumatic diseases is remarkable. The number of families that return each year to share their stories and learn more about how to cope with disease is what sets this camp apart from others.
We have attended Jambalya Jubilee every year for the last six years and each and every year we have learned important information that allows us to manage our sons JIA. The volunteers, staff, and programs are well organized and interesting for attendees of any age. Childre and Arthritis has been an invaluable resource to our family since our diagnosis 8 years ago.
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Children and Arthritis has been a huge blessing in our families life. No person ever wants to learn that one of their children has arthritis but when that becomes your reality it is non-profits like this that help provide the support an resources needed. I don't know where we would be today without the love and support of Children and Arthritis.
Children and Arthritis provides a summer camp experience for children with arthritis and their families. The child with arthritis is not the only one living with arthritis - the entire family is. This group actually addresses that issue. Great work being done!!!!
My children and I went to Jam Jub for the first time this year. It was amazing! My children are STILL talking about it and asking when we can back. The kids activities were great and the expertise offered to the parents through small groups and discussions was invaluable. Thank you to all who make this event happen. We can't wait for next year!!
I went when I was younger and it was a ton of fun. Thanks to all of the people there that made the experience awesome.
This organization puts on a retreat each year that we attended for over 15 years. We all learned so much. And the lifelong friends we made will always be there for me. I can never repay them for what they did for us. My daughter found a group that had the same struggles.
This is an amazing experience for children with arthritis. It is fun and educational. The most impressive part to me is the feeling of being a family with others also battling arthritis.
The Jambalaya Jubilee is a wonderful place for children with juvenile arthritis to come together and meet other children with the same problems so that they don't feel like they are different. The people who put this together are so nice and very giving. I hope our family can make this a tradition for years to come.
Over the past 30 years I have served on numerous nonprofit boards. Nowhere have I found an organization that directs a larger portion of its dollars to its mission. I am responsible for evaluating nonprofit organizations for a large nonprofit corporation, so I have a good idea of what to consider when determining whether or not to give to an organization. Without a doubt, Children and Arthritis far exceeds my expectations for giving...and is actually much better than many other organizations in our community. The founders continue to stand behind the organization which has been sustained for several decades by donors and corporations that see its clear value to the children and families it serves. Other nonprofits would do well to replicate this model!
Children and Arthritis is a great organization for helping children who suffer from arthritis, they do great with giving the kids a fun weekend and helping the parents better understand what arthritis is and the different treatment methods. I highly recommend this organization to any family who has a child with arthritis, you won't be disappointed!
This nonprofit organization has helped my family in so many ways. It has brought so many families together in so many ways also. It has not only helped me make new friends but it has also taught me that there are a lot of families dealing with the same issues as my family. It allows families to come together for a fun filled weekend to grow stronger and learn how to deal with children with a rheumatic disease and how to deal with everyday life for the whole family. It also allows family to relax and just have fun and make memories that last a lifetime.
Children and Arthritis puts on a retreat called Jambalya Jubilee every year. This retreat is for children with rheumatic diseases and their families. I began attending Jambalaya Jubilee when I was 3 years old, and I am currently 26 years old. Jambalaya Jubilee has allowed my family and I to get excellent medical advice from some of the best doctors in the South. I continue to learn new things every single year! Children and Arthritis gave me to ability to meet other people who have the same disability as myself. The encouragement that is given to the families and children helped me develop a strong sense of self-confidence. Thanks to Children and Arthritis I can face the day knowing that arthritis does not control me, and that I am not alone in my disability!
I have been attending Jambalaya Jubilee hosted and funded by the amazing non profit Children and Arthritis for 20 years! I have made life long friendship s that have turned into a support network and family. The first year I attended I realized that I WAS NOT THE ONLY KID WITH ARTHRITIS! This organization not only gives hope to the families affected but a weekend of fun for each kid and their siblings, where they can forget about doctors, medical treatments, worries, school, being different from other kids, and just have fun! It also gives the parents a weekend with amazing doctors and counselors to learn how to cope with this disease and better care for their family and the challenges faced. Each child with Arthritis gets a weekend to spend with children just like them, and not feel left out but like they belong! This organization truly does CHANGE LIVES, I say this from not only 18 years as a camper but 2 years as a counselor watching it change children and their families right before my eyes! There is NO greater feeling than being able to donate my time as ASN Alumni and Counselor to these families watching it change them for the better and see them smile for 3 days and hug me not wanting to leave! This organization truly does deserve the Top Non Profit Award, it does change lives for a lifetime and form a support network that is and will always be there. The family behind the scenes that started it all 23 years ago is one of the most caring, loving, selfless families I know that do this year after year just for the families affected by Arthritis! They do it and do not ask for a thank you, this truly is the most deserving non profit organization I know.