My Nonprofit Reviews

CDH International was founded by CEO Dawn Ireland in 1995. Although Dawn's only child, Shane Torrence, at 6 years old sadly passed away in 1999 from complications of CDH, she forged ahead and continued the charity. She was determined to provide much needed information and support to families who were affected by CDH. In addition, CDHi raises funds to contribute to research. CDHi has expanded immensely and presently has branches in numerous countries. I first became aware of CDHi when my grandaughter was born with LCDH 24 years ago. I would be amiss not to mention Tracy Meats, President. Her dedication and hard work has also been instrumental in CDHi's long tenure. I would highly recommend CDHi.

CDHi has been helping families for over 25 years. They are the first and oldest organization solely devoted to CDH. CDHi not only supports families but they also fundraise monies for research. They serve 1,000's of members. They do this on a very low budget. They run CDHi on a fraction of what other rare disease/syndome associations receive from governmental agencies. They have only a few paid employees (can count on one hand) and the remainder are strictly volunteers. Dawn Ireland and Tracy Meats have done a great job of leading CDHi. They are both very dedicated to keeping CDHi going and have been for 25 years. They never give up on discovering ways and implementing them to help CDH families. They are tireless advocates whose hard work truly shows their determination to find the cause of CDH and how to prevent it while supporting families and giving them hope.

When Dawn's (Cherubs' CEO and founder) baby Shane was born with CDH over 20 years, there was no outside support and very little information available to her about this critical condition. She promised herself that she would do everything in her power to never allow any other CDH parent to be alone and without support. Unfortunately Shane passed away at age 6. Shane was and is Dawn's only child. Dawn has devoted her life to help CDH babies by offering support, information, monetary support (limited because of funding) and most of all doing everything in her power to raise funds and awareness for a cure/prevention of CDH through research. Most of these years Dawn operated on a shoestring budget and without pay. Because of her hard work and compassion, Cherubs has grown to several thousand members. Dawn is totally hands on ... tirelessly working in the trenches, lobbying congress for CDH research funding. I have been a member/volunteer for over 20 years, so I have seen Dawn's dedication and Cherubs' growth firsthand. Dawn has some very devoted volunteers that have done an amazing job. To name a few-- Josh, Tracy, Felicia, Ashley and Nicolle among many others.

Thank you Cherubs for all the support you have given to 1,000's of CDH families. The President, Dawn's, cherub Shane passed away a long time ago. Dawn has carried on his legacy in hopes to help research find a way to prevent this terrible birth defect from happening to others.

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HAPPY “National Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Month”. APRIL is National
Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Month. Thank you Dawn for spearheading this campaign. It was a brilliant idea. All Cherub parents will be eternally grateful to you for maintaining this organization to benefit CDH babies.

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I have been involved with Cherubs for over 14 years. Dawn Williamson (President) is and always has been a hands on person. She is not a behind the scenes person. Her dedication is exemplified by the countless hours she puts in every day. She is on the front line comforting parents, spearheading fundraisers along with running the business end of the office. Dawn is not a leader in name only- she is creative, makes a plan and a lot of the time executes it on her own. Cherubs' success is due in chief to Dawn's unwillingness to "never give up".

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