Help The Prout Family Keep Serving San Diego!

Brendan Prout is organizing this fundraiser.

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Thank you for taking a few moments to learn more about the Prout family and how we can come together to help them!

The Reason For the Fundraiser

A year ago in July, Susie was diagnosed with a form of leukemia that has rendered her unable to work as she has battled her cancer through ongoing chemotherapy. She has gone through rounds of four different types of chemo, and has recently received word that her oncologist is referring her to UCSD for a specialist to continue her care and pursue a bone marrow transplant. While Susie’s prognosis is positive, the treatment itself in addition to the cancer has been debilitating; the treatment is just as bad as the disease, with many harsh physical effects on her body.

Because of pandemic related events over the past eighteen months Brendan lost significant portions of his income, which had been provision to keep the family financially afloat in addition to his main profession.

Now due to circumstances beyond their control, the Prouts have found themselves suddenly and unexpectedly without income, without a place to live, and without the ability to provide for means to get into a rental, pay for living expenses or medical bills.

Susie’s ongoing cancer treatment, bone marrow transplant and family medical expenses have the potential to cost the Prout family many thousands of dollars in a time where they have no income.

We’d like to ask you to rally with us around the Prout family and make a financial donation that will help them through this time, specifically to be able to meet their short term needs through January & February.

We’d like to ask you to share this fundraiser through your social media and email contacts, to spread the word and invite others to join in supporting this family that has done so much for so many others.

We’d also like to ask you to reach out through any networks or relationships to explore possibilities for housing that may be made available to them at low or no cost for a period of time while they go through this transition period and get back on their feet.

What Has The Prout Family Been Doing To Overcome These Circumstances?

Susie is unable to work due to her fight against cancer, and has been doing her best to manage from day to day. Brendan has been pounding the pavement literally and figuratively in efforts to find employment, but the timing of the holidays has slowed the process down for many of the possibilities he is able to pursue. He is hopeful that he will be able to find a combination of work opportunities that will provide for his family after the holidays. He continues daily to apply for jobs and reach out through his networks to discover new prospects.

What Will The Funds Be Used For?

The funds received will be used to help Brendan and Susie get into a new living situation and get started while Brendan continues to search for work. In the economic reality of San Diego, the required combination of first month’s rent, last month’s rent, and security deposit in order to move into a rental amounts to nearly $10,000 and the short term goal of keeping the family securely housed is top priority for the Prouts. They are committed to remaining in San Diego to allow their son to successfully complete his senior year of high school uninterrupted by these life circumstances, and to remain plugged in to serve the local community on an ongoing basis, as they have done for many years and endeavor to continue doing.

The financial donations will afford Brendan the window of opportunity to find employment, which he hopes will be with a non-profit that shares his passion to serve the community and better the lives of others.

Beyond that, the funds will serve to offset the costs of the family’s ongoing and upcoming medical needs.

How Have These Circumstances Affected the Prout Family?

Through many years of service to others, Brendan and Susie have never before been in a position where they have had to ask for financial support from the communities in which they’ve been active contributors, and they have expressed how this experience has made them feel extremely vulnerable and has increased their empathy for others experiencing similar challenges. They desire to be transparent and authentic in sharing the struggles of their journey in hopes that it may inspire or be beneficial to others in the midst of their own challenges.

The stress of supporting a family member with cancer has had marked effects on the well being of all members of the Prout family, particularly their two teen kids. Struggles all members of the family have experienced with this nerve-wracking, challenging time in their lives include fatigue, depression, anxiety, and a sharp decline in physical health. Members of the family have been hospitalized multiple times this year for stress related issues, and continue to receive ongoing care.

The addition of the current circumstances, of being faced with unemployment and potential homelessness while Susie is fighting cancer, has introduced an extreme level of stress for all the family members. Despite that, they continue to focus on keeping a positive outlook.

About the Prout Family:

We’d like to invite you to hear a little bit about Brendan & Susie and their kids, the impact they’ve had on the San Diego community, and how we can come alongside to support them in a time of need.

Brendan & Susie have been serving both the local community and nationwide both vocationally and through volunteerism in non-profit charity work for over two decades.

Susie has been a special education teacher focused on younger elementary students with mild to moderate disabilities, earning her Master’s degree in Special Ed and beginning her teaching career twenty years ago. She has also volunteered as a teacher for many churches, served as a volunteer with TAPS, the local Star Wars clubs and charitable causes, and has even been known to join her family in cosplay at charity events.

Susie has been an active participant in her local Buy Nothing group, giving away food, household goods, gifts and clothes to others regularly. She is well known for her laugh, warmth, joyful spirit, enthusiastic comforting demeanor and generous hospitality. She has also been very involved as a volunteer in ministries supporting moms and families in the community, always finding ways to make connections with others.

A member of Gold Star Families, Brendan has been a grief counselor, chaplain, peer mentor & group facilitator with TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), a non-profit that provides support to those whom have experienced the death of a loved one in military service. He has also been a grief counselor with Griefshare, a faith based non-profit organization providing support to anyone walking the path of mourning after loss.

Brendan co-founded a local non-profit, the San Diego Star Wars Society, which has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and community organizations over the past twenty years. He has been directly involved as a volunteer supporting events for Make-A-Wish, the Children’s Starlight Foundation, The Pediatric Leukemia Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Children’s Hospital, Autism Speaks, Deaf Community Services of San Diego, Kiwanis, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Military Families Association, Gold Star Families, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Aerospace Museum, Touch-A-Truck, Escondido Tots & Trucks, The San Diego Blood Bank, the Tom Morgan Memorial Music Scholarship, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, the Alpine Chamber of Commerce, the Clairemont Town Hall, Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego, Balboa Park Foundation’s STEAM event, Helen Woodward Animal Center, the YMCA, San Diego Symphony, Max’s Ring of Fire, local schools including Miramar Ranch Elementary School, Riverview Elementary, PRIDE Academy, Walker Elementary, Horizon Academy, Baypoint Preschool, and even San Diego State University. He has also strongly supported our military at events at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, North Island Naval Air Station, Naval Base San Diego, Naval Station 32nd Street, Balboa Naval Hospital, Liberty Station and Fleet Week.

Additionally Brendan volunteers with several other groups including the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion, actively working through these organizations to support and promote many local and national charities, and he has volunteered with Comic-Con for thirty-five years, focused on educating and empowering people to be active participants and professional creators in the arts.

Like many of his like-minded peers and colleagues, Brendan has served each of these organizations in an unpaid volunteer manner, often at significant personal expense, giving sacrificially of his time, talent and treasure in order to help others.

Vocationally Brendan has been a pastor for twenty-four years, most often serving churches that cannot afford to pay him a full salary, supplementing his income by working multiple jobs, which have included at various times being a chef, a teacher, a writer, a musician, and a mechanic. He has been passionately devoted to serving the needs of those marginalized, neglected, emotionally wounded and at-risk in our communities at large, particularly in subcultures typically ignored by mainstream churches.

For the past four years, the Prouts have been part of the ministry team at Quest Church San Diego, living on site at the church while Brendan has served as one of the pastors. He has his Master’s degree in Divinity and was working toward his doctorate until recent events put those efforts on pause. He’s known for his calming presence and ability to make others feel valued and cared for in the midst of their personal struggles, as well as encouraging, empowering and investing time into others to help them grow.

Their teenage kids have joined in the family tradition of volunteerism on behalf of non-profit charitable organizations. Admittedly being “voluntold” into serving others when they were younger, both of the Prout kids have embraced volunteering and community service as young adults. As a senior in high school their son has become a department volunteer at Comic-Con and at events serving the local community, and their daughter volunteers at a therapy ranch, a horse ranch, and as a cosplayer serving at charity events.