There are a lot of reasons why we love what we do here at From the Hip Photo. Including getting to meet incredible new people who do incredible things and capturing those moments of incredibleness. Like our friends at Brent’s Place, who recently celebrated the grand opening of their new facility–located in Aurora–with a good ‘ol ribbon cutting! It was our honor to have captured Brent’s Place Grand Opening, and to be a part of such great cause.
Home Away From Home
Brent’s Place is a nonprofit organization in Colorado that provides a safe, clean environment for children with fragile immune systems. It is a home away from home that offers apartments and indoor play areas for recovering immune compromised patients. They also offer special events to raise awareness and funds for the kids and families that call Brent’s Place home. Through See The World Better, our non-profit and cultural exchange partnership, we have been extremely fortunate to forge a bond with Brent’s Place. Our multi-year partnership with them has allowed us to donate over one hundred hours of pro-bono work, which is just a small token of our appreciation for the work they do.
Where It All Began
The story behind Brent’s Place is quite compelling. It all started with Donn and Linda Eley and their 13- year-old-son, Brent, who was diagnosed in 1987 with a fast-growing malignant cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. Brent’s rare and aggressive cancer required a bone marrow transplant as a critical step in his treatment. Unfortunately, his hometown in Denver did not provide a facility for his treatment. This forced the Eley family to relocate for more than six months for his care. This move made it difficult to find and maintain a safe home for their son. There were no options for safe and clean housing outside of the hospital after his transplant. This meant Brent had to spend the majority of his time in the hospital. Meanwhile his parents lived in a rented apartment for his 160-day stay.
Following a brave year-long fight, Brent passed away from complications related to his transplant. The Eley family then returned to Denver. With them, the idea of helping others who temporarily needed to relocate to obtain life-saving cancer treatments; keeping in mind that even their less than ideal living arrangements would have been financially impossible for many families. After ten years of raising money in support of pediatric cancer programs, the Eleys established the Brent Eley Foundation in 1997. Shortly after, the first Brent’s Place facility opened its doors in 1998. It began to fill the need in the Denver area for living accommodations suitable for pediatric patients and their families following bone marrow transplants.
Moving Forward
Flash forward to today and Brent’s Place is celebrating the opening of a new location! The progress of this organization is outstanding, but even more, the support of this cause is truly remarkable.
“Our goal every day is to make it a full and rich experience for the families that we serve,” Donn Eley said. “We know how difficult their journey is, we know that it starts when it’s very dark and scary for them … and we know that we can make it a whole and rich experience regardless of what the outcome might be.”
The new Brent’s Place Grand Opening was quite the celebration and we are thrilled to have captured the exciting moment.
To see what you can do to support a great cause, check out Brent’s Place!
