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  • Who We Are
    • Our Founders
    • Our History
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  • Why First Hand
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    • Case Grants
      • Case Grants
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      • Elementary Wellness Screenings
      • Middle School Social-Emotional Wellness
      • High School Healthy Lifestyle Program
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      • Community Wellness Center
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Who We Are

Our History

  • First Hand's Vision & Mission

    Vision: A world where children and families achieve their full health potential

    Mission: To improve the health of individuals through innovative models

  • First Hand Foundation Established
  • 1995

  • First Hand Foundation Established

    We helped our first child, providing case grant funding. In 1998, Nathan (pictured with our founder Neal Patterson) received funding

  • Love Bag Program Introduced
  • 2000

  • Love Bag Program Introduced

    We created this program to initially provide comfort items to children going through the foster system and have since expanded to offer this program to more children who face difficult circumstances.

  • Healthe Kids Institute Founded
  • 2006

  • Healthe Kids Institute Founded

    We established a second 501(c)3 under the First Hand brand to focus on proactive population health programming, introducing several school health initiatives.

  • First Wellness Screening Conducted
  • 2007

  • First Wellness Screening Conducted

    We completed our first free wellness screening at Barry Elementary School.

  • First Healthy Lifestyle Course Completed
  • 2010

  • First Healthy Lifestyle Course Completed

    The first high school class completed our healthy lifestyle program in the Blue Valley (Kansas) School District.

  • Celebrated 20th Anniversary
  • 2015

  • Celebrated 20th Anniversary

    At this point in our history, we helped over 200,000 children through all of our programs. Notably, the Case Grants program awarded $20 million in funding for children's medical needs.

  • Mental Well-Being Program Launched
  • 2018

  • Mental Well-Being Program Launched

    Middle school students in the Raytown, MO, School District participated in our comprehensive social-emotional wellness (mental well-being) program.

  • Who We Are
    • Our Founders
    • Our History
    • Our Unique Model
    • Blog
  • Why First Hand
    • Recipient Stories
    • Donor Stories
    • Results & Outcomes
  • What We Do
    • Case Grants
    • School Health
    • Family & Community
    • Global Reach
  • Events
    • Golf Tournament
    • Westport Bounce
    • Masquerade Ball
  • Get Involved
    • Ways to Donate
    • Connect Your Community
    • Volunteer
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • 2800 Rockcreek Pkwy Kansas City, Missouri 64117
    (816) 201-1569
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