Pleasanton Not-For-Profit Honors Wish Of Former Foothill Student

PLEASANTON, CA – When Scott Kienhofer was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma as a high school junior in 2017, he had a vision for helping other young people who were hospitalized after learning that they have been stricken with cancer.

Even at such a young age, the Foothill High School junior recognized the need for young cancer patients to have something to take their mind off their diagnosis while being forced to remain in a hospital room, often with nothing to do, often for weeks at a time.

Just more than three years after he died, Kienhofer’s family has launched The Scottie’s Gift Foundation, which will provide gift bags —including an iPad or tablet — to young cancer patients. The foundation is well on its way of raising the initial $50,000 that is needed to put the first round of gift bags together for cancer patients at an Oakland hospital, all while living out a mission that Scott Kienhofer had before he died on March 12, 2018.

In a letter written before his death, Kienhofer outlined a wish to provide young cancer patients with the gift bags, stating that he would pay for the many of the items out of his own pocket. What was needed, however, was financial help to help pay for the tablets that would be included in the gift bags. He wrote the letter after spending weeks UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where he was one of 100 newly diagnosed cancer patients at the hospital.

Now, his family is attempting to raise enough money to provide gift bags and tablets to each of the newly diagnosed cancer patients at the hospital. While his family knows the undertaking is significant —especially in keeping it sustainable — they know it’s what Scott Kienhofer envisioned before he died.

“We would not have the foundation had Scottie not had their vision,” Kienhofer’s mother, Brigit, told Patch on Friday. “It’s everything. Had he not had (the vision), we would not be here I can guarantee that.”

Since launching on May 1, Scottie’s Gift Foundation, the group has raised $6,500 from a “Cheers To 21 Years” event which celebrated what would have been Kienhofer’s 21st birthday. In addition, the event led to the donation of toy donations, which can be added to the gift baskets once the $50,000 goal is reached. Brigit Kienhofer said that if the foundation can reach its initial goal, the gift baskets can be in the hands of patients by Dec. 1.

The family planned to launch the foundation last year before the coronavirus pandemic changed their plans. But while the foundation became officials earlier this year, donations honoring Scott Kienhofer's wishes have continued to come in, moving his family closer to their $50,000 goal, Brigit Kienhofer said.

She said Friday she is amazed that the Foundation is having such a sudden impact but knows that the work of providing these items for young cancer patients is vitally important.

“(Hospital staff) tell us that it’s as if Scottie had read the minds of the kids in the hospital – especially the iPads,” Brigit Kienhofer said. “It’s exactly what those kids need.”

She added: “I think there’s a huge need for kids to be uplifted.”

With the foundation now off the ground, the work will focus on not only finishing the process of raising the first $50,000, but to begin to plan for next year when another $50,000 is needed to pay for the next round of gift baskets. Each round of funding will provide gift baskets to the 100 newly diagnosed cancer patients at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital each year.

In his letter, Scott Kienhofer wrote that after receiving an iPad from a family friend, it immediately lifted his spirit at a time when he needed it most. His mother said that the tablets allow patients to be in contact with friends that may not be able to visit them in the hospital and to occupy their time when they need something to take their mind off of what they are going through.

“While I was (hospitalized), it absolutely crushed me to see all those bright, intelligent kids going through the stress of everything that comes with a cancer diagnosis,” Scott Kienhofer wrote.

Now, the goal of the foundation is to bring love, joy and comfort to newly diagnosed cancer patients and their families. Brigit said that she hopes the gift bags will not only provide momentary joy to patients who receive them but will be an ongoing lifting of their spirit as they remain hospitalized.

“There’s few things in life that are as traumatic as a diagnosis of cancer to one of your children,” Scott’s father, Brian, told Patch on Friday. “What we’re trying to do is to provide some joy and something that will take (patients’) minds off of their situation because it’s so dramatic – the reality of a cancer diagnosis for a child.”