Advocacy is at the heart of ACCO’s mission and ACCO’s Regional Advocacy Ambassador’s, Amy and Hannah embrace that fully. Thank you for using your talents to make a difference. We are pleased to recognize you and grateful to have you on our What About Kids team!
Meet Regional Advocacy Ambassador, Amy
Since 2017, we are proud and honored to have worked with state legislatures across the country to secure $66 million dollars in funding with the goal of overcoming the national disparity between adult and childhood cancer research. Many times this effort begins with state cancer action plans. Currently only 11 states include substantive language specific to childhood cancer. We believe each state should have specific objectives related to childhood cancer! It takes a team to make meaningful policy change and we are so thankful to have such talented individuals committed to this cause.
One of those is Amy Kindstedt, a ACCO Regional Advocacy Ambassador. As a high school sophomore and two-time childhood cancer survivor, Amy works tirelessly to conduct outreach to new volunteers, reach out to legislators and partners, gather data about any existing childhood cancer work, and create systems to organize data so we can efficiently move forward. Recently, Amy reached out to all 50 states to develop partnerships and share information to create change for this important initiative.
Meet Regional Advocacy Ambassador, Hannah
At the American Childhood Cancer Organization we are proud that ALL of our advocacy team are childhood cancer survivors or parents of children diagnosed with cancer. We know that those directly impacted are the most powerful advocates as we share personal stories with elected officials and key leaders. We invite you to meet Hannah Adams, a 12 year survivor of Stage 3 Nephroblastoma.
Hannah Adams, of Alabama, is a critical member of this team serving as a Regional Advocacy Ambassador. After enduring surgery, radiation, and chemo she is on fire for the cause to help other children, adolescents and young adults impacted by this horrible disease. In this role Hannah has provided key assistance in state-level advocacy for childhood cancer research appropriations as well as inclusion of specific childhood cancer content in state cancer action plans communicating with all 50 states. Hannah’s leadership in grassroots advocacy has resulted in impactful progress in California, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee – and she is just getting started!