Tom Sustic Scholarship Fund
where the money goes

A fund was established to support a bone marrow transplant for Tom, mostly generated through a series of benefit events in 1999 and 2000 involving people like La Bottine Souriante, Beausoleil, Mick Moloney with Jimmy Keane and Robbie O’Connell, the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, Jesse Winchester, Greg Brown, John Roberts and Tony Barrand, Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus, Lui Collins, etc. Unfortunately, after several bone marrow drives and continuous monitoring and searching through several million samples on the available registries in North America and Europe, an ideal donor was never located. Our intent is to sustain the fund at its present level as a base amount, and to add to it incrementally with events like this concert series, growing the fund as an endowment so that it will be self-sustaining and continually generating revenue that would be used to support other families with terminally ill children, particularly those in need of transplantation.

The Fund is used to directly support the needs of families with children involved in cancer treatments, transplantation or hospice care. Over 35 families had been assisted as of August 2006. Situations in which these funds have been used include…..

• car repairs for a family that allowed them to get their son to and from treatments in Burlington
• travels costs that allowed families to accompany their children for treatments and/or transplants in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and North Carolina
• living and travel expenses when a parent had to quit working to care for their child
• payment of taxes so a family’s home would not be put up for tax auction
• general household expenses while a child was being hospitalized in Burlington
• costs associated with end-of-life care at the Vermont Respite House and in private homes
• costs of renewing a driver’s license so a parent could drive their child to and from treatments in Burlington
• hospital bills not covered by insurance
• textbooks for a college student receiving chemotherapy treatments
• dental treatments and follow up care necessary following radiation treatments

Proceeds from all events benefit the Tom Sustic Fund. Contributions to the fund, including donated ticket purchases, can be sent to: Tom Sustic Fund, PO Box 163, Fairfax, VT 05454. For more general information about the concert series and the Tom Sustic Fund, contact Mark Sustic at 802-849-6968 or mrksustc@together.net.