Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund

The Howie’s House received special visitors on Saturday, June 1^st; Bill and Christine Hankee stopped by to donate $1,000 in gas gift cards on behalf of the Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund. The donation is from the Memorial’s new initiative Courses that Care, Miles that Matter. Courses that Care, Miles that Matter raises funds through golfing events to provide families traveling for ongoing medical care with gasoline gift cards.

The Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund – from which Courses that Care, Miles that Matter grows — was created in memory of Krysta Hankee, a Lehigh Valley local and daughter of Bill and Christine Hankee. Krysta was a New York University graduate who began working for Triangle Equities of Whitestone, NY after her 2007 graduation. Sadly, Krysta passed away when she was 22 years old. She collapsed in a gym one morning and died five short days later. But, Krysta’s memory continues through her donation. Her organs went on to save five strangers’ lives and her tissue helped others in need of skin and sight. In keeping with Krysta’s compassion and charity, the Memorial Fund helps high school seniors further their education through grant opportunities, promotes the positive impacts of organ and tissue donations and now through a new initiative, distributes gas cards to families traveling for medical treatments.

 “Knowing Krysta, we knew at this point in her life, she would be back out in the community volunteering and making a difference. We felt it would only be fitting to honor her memory by addressing a need within the community. A group of volunteers created the Krysta Cares Flight Club to address transportation costs related to ongoing medical care. The flight club has established several ways for the community to get involved to make a difference and help these families in need. We have partnered with Giant Foods and are very pleased by their generosity in helping us provide gas cards to these families in need. In 15 months we have donated over 150,000 miles of driving.” – Bill Hankee

The generous donation of gas cards helps the Howie’s House provide an additional and much-needed service to our guest families. Many guest families travel between their homes and the Howie’s House, so the donated gas cards will help ease some financial burdens they experience stemming from constant travel during their transplant journeys. The Hankee family also presented the Howie’s House with a check for $500. Since the Howie’s House opened its doors to the community the Hankee family has donated over $4,000 to the Adopt-a-Family program fund  – program which supports families who cannot pay the nightly fee to stay at the Howie’s House.

The Howie’s House is so grateful for the Hankee family and the Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund’s generosity; through them, we can provide our guests with amenities that we currently do not offer. We truly appreciate their continued support and advocacy over the past several years.