PORT ANGELES — When women are diagnosed with cancer, they often have to seek treatment in locations off the North Olympic Peninsula.
Those travel costs — from mileage, to ferry fares, to bridge tolls or parking — can be reimbursed through the Kathleen Sutton Fund, a nonprofit that received a $3,000 grant from community donations through the Peninsula Home Fund last year.
“There is no financial application,” said Barbara Carr, the president of the Kathleen Sutton Fund board. “We get a referral from their medical provider that states they are a woman over the age of 18 who has been diagnosed with cancer.”
The grant, administered through a partnership with Olympic View Community Foundation (OVCF), helps women in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Mason counties, Carr said.
In 2024, 280 women were reimbursed a total of more than $153,700, she added.
For the Peninsula Home Fund, community members have contributed $101,613.30 since Thanksgiving toward this year’s grant cycle, which will be administered through OVCF this spring.
Although fundraising occurs throughout the year, a special campaign is conducted annually through the holiday season for the Home Fund, now in its 36th year.
Grant applications will be due in mid-February, and winners will be announced in April.
Donations, along with the names of the donors — should they elect to have them published — will be presented in the Peninsula Daily News throughout the campaign.
Over the years, the Peninsula Home Fund has raised more than $5.05 million for those in need on the Peninsula.
From children’s pennies to checks for thousands of dollars, each donation makes a difference, helping people from Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to Sequim, Port Angeles, Joyce and La Push.
All contributions are fully federally tax-deductible for the year in which the check is written.
Those who wish to donate can mail checks to Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA, 98362, or to Olympic View Community Foundation, P.O. Box 3651, Sequim, WA, 98382.
An online option is available at https://ov-cf.org/peninsula-home-fund-donation.
The Home Fund supported 15 nonprofits in last year’s grant cycle, including the Kathleen Sutton Fund, which began in 2003 and assisted three Kitsap County women with breast cancer with transportation costs. The organization expanded to the four counties on the North Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas in 2010 and accepted women with all types of cancer starting in 2018, Carr said.
“In the last three years, we’ve seen a 25 percent growth,” she said.
Carr, a retired oncology nurse, said Dr. Scott Ramsey, the director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, was the guest speaker at the nonprofit’s fundraising luncheon in 2023.
“He talked about the impact on financial stress on a cancer patient and how they sometimes have to decide between paying the rent or going to get their treatment,” said Carr, who added that most insurance companies don’t cover transportation costs.
“We had a woman in Neah Bay who has supposed to be going to Seattle three times per week,” Carr said. “You can imagine the costs.”
In 2024, the Kathleen Sutton Fund reimbursed women and a companion for 318,293 miles traveled, 2,056 ferry rides, 320 bridge tolls and $8,500 in parking fees.
Last year, the organization reimbursed $31,994 to 43 clients in Clallam County and $11,870 for 26 clients in Jefferson County, Carr said. It assisted 255 clients in total, including Kitsap and Mason counties, she added.
“Whether living nearby a cancer center or further away, the need to reach the center is necessary to receive lifesaving treatment,” Carr wrote in the organization’s grant report. “The Kathleen Sutton Fund provides a resource to help with these costs during what is already a difficult time and also reduces a small piece of the financial stress that can occur during treatment.”
The organization, fully run by volunteers, also can reimburse costs up to six months retroactively. And there is no cap on expenses or if a patient relapses and needs additional treatment, Carr said.
It does not require receipts because it has client advocates who standardize expenses and calculate mileage from their home to their provider, she added.
“They have enough stress, enough balls in the air,” Carr said.
For the Peninsula Home Fund, the following is a donor list through Jan. 14:
Name only
• Lisa Dekker, Port Angeles.
• Millie Lyon, Port Angeles.
• Doug Smith, Sequim.
Anonymous
• Sequim, $500.
• Carlsborg, $1,000.
• Carlsborg, $150, in memory of Marcella E. Ellis.
• Sequim, $25.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Sequim, $250.
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Editor Brian McLean can be reached by email at brian.mclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
