In 2025, the Catalina Rotary Club awarded a $40,000 grant to Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Southern Arizona.
Candlelighters educates, supports, and advocates on behalf of families of children and adolescents with cancer and other blood disorders, as well as bereaved families and survivors of childhood cancer. The foundation’s programs and services are designed to offer normalcy for families in an otherwise hectic and stressful time in their lives.
On April 25, 2026, some of the grant money went to support the Candlelighters 21st Annual Dream Night Prom.
In letter to the Catalina Rotary Club, Candlelighters Program Director Beverly Tidwell expressed her thanks:
“Thank you very much for your support of local programming for children with cancer and sickle cell with your support of our Child Life Specialist. Candlelighters 21st Annual Dream Night Prom for teens with cancer was April 25, with your help we hosted 68 teens, and a record 15 newly diagnosed teens in the prom court.
Dream Night Prom affords a magical and healing experience for the teens who participate. The challenge for a child diagnosed with cancer is multifaceted, and for a teenager, the experience is far more personal. The treatments frequently induce hair loss, weight loss and other physical challenges. Months of hospitalizations can disrupt the usual social activities, and important milestones are often missed.”