The Mary Beth Benison Foundation
Helping people from all walks of life during the most challenging periods of the lives.
Mary Beth Benison
Over 15 years Mary Beth overcame numerous health challenges but in 2014 she was diagnosed with two terminal illnesses, mesothelioma, and ALS. Her ability to fight and remain strong through this devastating news was inspiring to many.
Mary Beth often expressed how grateful she was to have the support of family and friends. She had tremendous compassion and knew how difficult it was when dealing with an illness and she wanted to find a way to help. This foundation was started as a way to continue her legacy of kindness, love, and compassion.
Together, we have the power, the conviction, and the responsibility, to help those facing the toughest challenges imaginable.
Contact
(774) 275-0240
mbbfoundation@gmail.com
Mailing Address
Who Do We Help?
The Mary Beth Benison Foundation helps people from all walks of life during the most challenging periods of their lives. We depend on generous contributions from our family, friends, and community to help fund our efforts.
Simply put, we need you! Please consider becoming a sponsor or contributor to the MBB Foundation so that we can continue to work with beautiful people like these.
How MBB Foundation Helps
Financial Support
We provide funds to patients with ALS and their families. We also help to provide medical equipment, transportation, and personal requests.
Emotional Support
MBB Foundation helps organize and fund family vacations for families facing medical challenges.
Household Support
We help with home renovations or modifications that families need to make so that their homes are accessible and safe.
Our ALS Family
Brian Shifrin
Recently, Keegan and I had a nice visit with Brian and Kristine Shifrin. We got to meet their beautiful kids Charlie & Courtney and spend some time with them.
MBB Foundation helped the Shifrin’s recently by providing them with a grant to help with bathroom renovations. I’m excited to say that MBB is having our 5k on October 20th in honor of Brian and fellow pALS Kristina Golji.
Thank you for welcoming us into your home and for all of your support of MBB and the work we are doing.
Patty Haberstroh
Keegan and I took a road trip recently to CT to visit our friend Patty Haberstroh.
Patty was diagnosed with ALS in October 2017. She and her family immediately took action and started the ALS pepper challenge which went viral and raised significant funds to support research for treatment and cure for ALS.
Patty can no longer walk or get in and out of bed on her own. She had to move to a condo and make several home modifications so she could live there safely.
MBB Foundation provided Patty with a grant earlier in the year to help her with some of these expenses. Thank you Patty for welcoming Keegan and me into your home.
Maceo
Meet one of our most recent grant recipients Maceo.
Maceo is 44 years old and was diagnosed with ALS in November 2016. Maceo is a husband and father of 3 children and has been the sole provider for his family. We provided him with a grant to help pay some household bills. “I take pride in taking care of my family, but the stress of covering mounting debt and new medical needs, as well as 3 children (20,11,9), is all so overwhelming. Any assistance would go very far and be a real blessing.”
Mary Lastowski
The MBB Foundation provided Mary Lastowski of Northampton, MA with a grant to help pay for the installation of a wheelchair ramp and a household bill. Her daughter Lynda sent us this picture and write-up to share.
“Mary Lastowski is 82 years old. She had been married to my Dad, Rudy, for 57 years before he passed in 2012. She has four children, Michael, Sandi, Joe & Lynda. She has 12 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren plus one more great-grandchild due on her birthday this year.
She was a hairdresser and worked with her sister-in-law part-time for years. Other than that, she was a stay-at-home mom, which was great. She loves spending time with her family and friends. Always has been a social butterfly. She will talk to anyone who will listen, although now it’s really difficult as the ALS has robbed her voice almost completely. She loves to garden (or instruct us on how to do it now because she isn’t able to). She and my dad used to have a huge garden and grew all kinds of veggies and berries, but now she just has flowers. She and my dad volunteered at the local senior center quite a bit. Once he passed, she started volunteering even more.
For at least 4 years in a row, she won the “most hours volunteered” at the center. Now we try to get her there a couple of times a week just for an hour or so so she can visit with them. She’s sad that she isn’t able to do the things she has always loved. It’s difficult for her to have people help her because she has always done things herself. We just try to take one day at a time and let her know that we are there and will be there to see her through all of this.
We are all so grateful for people like you that help us. There is no way we could afford that ramp on our own and we truly appreciate your generosity.”
Patrick
Keegan and I had a great visit recently with Patrick from Hudson, MA. Patrick was diagnosed with ALS in 2016 at 36 years old. Patrick has been a DJ and music producer since be was in college and at 21 years old owned Satellite Records on Mass Ave in Boston. @mbbfoundation is helping him with a grant to purchase a new bed. We got to hang with him, his dog Cosmo, check out his studio and awesome record collection. Thank you Patrick for opening your home to us.
Kennedy
Recently we provided our 68th grant to Kennedy to help her get some medical supplies. Kennedy is only 8 years old and was diagnosed with ALS last year. Her mother explained that costs add up so quickly they oftentimes have to choose one thing over another. She shared the following with us “Kennedy is your typical 8-year-old girly girl. She loves unicorns, rainbows, glitter, and JoJo Siwa! She enjoys going on adventures and playing with her friends. She has kept an amazing attitude through the physical challenges and a multitude of appointments and tests. We are incredibly grateful for the support our family has received from the MBB Foundation.”
Brian Rhea
Today I went to Vanderbilt ALS Clinic and got to meet Brian and Tiffany Rhea and Brian’s mom. @mbbfoundation provided a grant to Brian in March to help with household expenses.
He is a father of 4 children ages 13, 12, 10, and 6, he is a loving husband, son, and friend and he has been fighting ALS since March 2018.
It was a pleasure to meet the Rhea’s and get to spend some time with them. And he’s looking pretty good in that hat!!
Martin Carter
Meet Martin Carter. In November we provided a grant to Martin to help with the cost of a wheelchair ramp.
Martin is 50 years old and is a husband, father, and brother. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and received his Master’s Degree from Boston University. He has a CFA and worked as a business analyst for John Hancock in Boston before being diagnosed with ALS in 2015. This afternoon he shared with me a speech he had given that shared his journey. He closed it with a reminder that if you are upset about something it’s important to take a step back and be thankful for what you have.
Thank you Martin for welcoming us into your home.
Thank you to all of our sponsors!
