The Serenely Guided Foundation for Rare Diseases is a 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to improving the lives of patients, families, caregivers and those affected by all rare diseases. Our focus is providing easy access to resources in the areas of wellness, nutrition, and awareness. It's our mission to help guide the patient and caregiver journey with ease.
Our Support
SGF Care Boxes
We ship our signature SGF Care Boxes, nationwide, to support patients and caregivers of all rare diseases, during challenging times of treatment, diagnosis, and clinical trials, who are in need of self-care and wellness items, along with meal cards, and hand-written cards of encouragement to brighten their day.
Youth Workshops
Our SGF Storytime & Workshop Program specially curated for grades K-12 provides fundamentals in learning and awareness of rare diseases, genetic testing, clinical trials as well as understanding physical challenges and disabilities while encouraging empathy and understanding.
Employee Events
Looking to engage your employees to volunteer for a great cause and not leave the office? We host SGF Employee Volunteer Events that provide employees the chance to support our cause by helping us assemble and pack our signature SGF Care Boxes. Email us HERE us for pricing and more information.
AWARENESS
What is a Rare Disease?
A rare disease is defined as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States or 1 in 2,000 individuals worldwide. We support Rare Disease Day, a day for the world to raise awareness and generate change for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare disease. Click the button below to learn more.
YOUTH HEALTH EMPOWERMENT
Classroom Learning & Volunteering
Looking to empower your class with outside learning about health and rare disease? Our 30-minute informational sessions are fun, interactive, and we bring in outside professionals and kids who are affected and tell about their journey. Schedule a session today! Looking to have your child volunteer at our next event? Email us for more information.
SGF Patient & Caregiver Care Boxes are shipped nationwide!
Are you a rare disease patient or caregiver in need of resources during diagnosis, treatment, or clinical trial study? We specially curate our SGF Care Boxes to help with resources needed to get through the challenging days of diagnosis, treatment and clinical trial studies. We offer adult patient care boxes, pediatric care boxes, and caregiver care boxes. Some items that are included from our donors partners include: Vanicream, Buoy, Mom's Meals and Dr. Bronner's, Magic and more. Click on the link below to request an SGF Care Box.
SGF Youth Rare Awareness Sessions & Kits
All SGF Youth Awareness Kits and SGF Enrichment Sessions are customized based on grade level. We host enrichment sessions geared to grades 1st-9th grade. We explore topics such as inclusivity, the basics of rare disease, what genetic testing is, what a clinical trial is and why they're important, and how blood donation is critical to saving lives. Every student who participates in our enrichment programs receives a kit that includes a book, coloring activity, informational cards and other materials they can bring home to their parents. Email us for more information.
Sign-up your office for an Employee Volunteer Event with our SGF Care Boxes!
Engage your employees in a volunteer event without even leaving the office. We host Employee Volunteer Days to help us assemble our SGF Care Boxes which get shipped, nationwide, to patients and caregivers affected by all rare diseases.
Rare Disease Day Event 2026
Takeda Community Day with Serenely Guided Foundation
& Building Impact
Employees from Takeda in Cambridge, MA enthusiastically came together to help us assemble 125 Serenely Guided Foundation Patient & Caregiver Care Boxes to support rare disease patients and families.
We offer these care boxes to rare patients and caregivers going through challenging times of diagnosis, treatment, and clinical trials.
Please reach out to sarah@serenelyguidedfoundation.org for more information.
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Mom's Meals donation helps support those navigating a rare disease diagnosis.
A rare disease diagnosis can be an overwhelming journey, filled with uncertainty, medical appointments and financial strain. For many families, the added challenge of accessing proper nutrition is an even more overwhelming barrier that can affect health outcomes. That’s why organizations like Serenely Guided Foundation, founded by Sarah Woods after her own three-year journey to find a diagnosis, are using quality nutrition to make a difference.
Since April 2025, we have provided 60 SGF Care Boxes to Rare Disease Patients and Caregivers in Need.
Rare diseases that have impacted these families: Osteosarcoma, Pediatric Carcinoma, Rett Syndrome, Glutaric Acidemia 1 (ga1), Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Extrarenal Malignant Rhabdoid Tumor, PAMI, Atypical HUS, Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) Syndrome, Pediatric high grade neuro epithelial tumor with BCOR mutation and many more.
Patients and caregivers have so much to handle with
diagnosis, testing, treatments and clinical trials, and often times, don't have time or don't feel well enough to cook healthy meals.
SGF Care Boxes which include self-care and wellness items, along with dietary-friendly, home-delivered meal cards which makes life a little easier and healthier during mealtime. Help us to provide these
SGF Care Boxes by donating.
Donor Partners for Inspired Giving
Welcome BUOY to our custom
SGF Care Boxes
Cover All Your Bases: Buoy's ocean electrolyte and 87+ trace mineral complex transforms how your cells utilize water, creating lasting hydration that shows in your energy, clarity, gut health, and inner glow.
Welcome Magic to our SGF Care Boxes
Each bite of Magic rewrites the rules of chocolate. Each satisfying snap, captivating crunch, and mouthwatering melt is an invitation to a world of textural and sensory pleasure. Imagine chocolate as an act of self-expression!
Life is short, fill it with magic. We happily welcome Magic to our SGF Care Boxes.
Welcome Dr. Bronner's to our
SGF Care Boxes
Dr. Bronner's has the purest organic and fair trade ingredients. No synthetic preservatives, no foaming agents. Body, hair, face, mouth & teeth—food, dishes, laundry, mopping, pets—Dr. Bronner’s is the very best for human, home, and Earth. We are happy to announce we will now be including magic soap bars, hand sanitizer, and tooth paste into our SGF Care Boxes.
Welcome Vanicream to our custom SGF Care Boxes
Vanicream specializes in sensitive skin care and free of common chemical irritants found in ordinary skin and hair care products such as dyes, fragrance, masking fragrance, lanolin, parabens, and formaldehyde releasers.
Are you a Patient or Caregiver in Need of an SGF Care Box?
Rare disease patients and caregivers are busy managing symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, and clinical trial studies and need help with resources to manage their day, like post-surgery clothes, dietary-friendly meals, medical equipment, toys for pediatric in-patient needs and so much more. Submit a request below if you are a patient or caregiver and let us know what will help during these challenging times.
Rare Disease Awareness & Blood Drive Event
Thank you to our blood donors, sponsors, and volunteers!
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Rare Student Volunteer Spotlight!
Meet Kinley! Kinley is a rare disease warrior. She is a Boston Children's Hospital patient who receives IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin) every 3-4 weeks at BCH for a rare immunodeficiency. IVIG treatments involve infusing antibodies into a vein to strengthen the immune system. It's used to treat autoimmune disorders, infections, and immunodeficiency conditions. She’s currently in 8th grade and has been undergoing these treatments for nearly six years. Kinley shined as our Rare Disease Awareness & Blood Drive Event Volunteer and received a Serenely Guided Foundation Community Service Award for her time and dedication to our cause. Know a rare disease warrior who would like to be featured? Know a great volunteer in middle or high school? Help us bring awareness to rare diseases and the importance of volunteering in the community by sending us an email.
Rare Student & Volunteer Spotlight
Meet Sullivan! He is a rare disease warrior and patient at Boston Children's Hospital. Sully was diagnosed with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT ), a rare and genetic blood vessel disorder in 2023 through GeneDX. Symptoms of HHT present themselves in childhood and increase in adulthood and require scans on virtually every organ to detect for arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Sully is one of our latest Serenely Guided Foundation Community Service Award recipients for his efforts in passing out flyers and making his community aware of our February 1st Rare Disease Awareness Event & Blood Drive. He is in 6th grade and has been volunteering in his community since the age of 4. He loves all sports and his favorite is football.
Would you or your family like to volunteer for our next event or with our Youth Workshop Sessions? Send us an email!
In the Classroom! 2nd Grade SGF Care Box Designers for National Volunteer Month.
This April, 2nd grade students from the Pike School in Andover, MA, assisted us in creating uplifting hand-written cards, as well as co-designing our SGF Care Boxes, which are shipped, nationwide, to rare disease pediatric patients and their caregivers. We encourage students to actively volunteer within their community and welcome others to be part of our classroom work with students to inspire creativity and giving back. Contact us to learn more about how your classroom can be involved.
Rare Disease Awareness
Serenely Guided Foundation Rare Spotlight
Meet Aubrey and Help her Walk, Heal and Be a Kid Again!
Meet Aubrey and help her Fight Against FAVA.
Aubrey is 10 years old-and she can no longer walk without pain.
Aubrey lives in Southern California but needs surgery in Boston. She was diagnosed with a rare condition called Fibro-Adipose Vascular Anomaly, which is slowly taking away her ability to move, play, and be a child.
Please support Aubrey and her family through following her FAVA journey to Boston on GoFundMe
Help Hallie Fight
Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) Syndrome
Hallie is fighting for her life with Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome, a rare, inherited disorder that causes tumors and cysts to grow in various parts of the body. These growths can occur in the brain, spinal cord, eyes, inner ear, adrenal glands, pancreas, kidneys, and reproductive tract. Some of these tumors can cause serious complications depending on their size and location. VHL is caused by a mutation in the VHL gene. Hallie has 4 beautiful boys and is about to participate in a clinical trial in California.
CLINICAL TRIALS
FINDING YOUR CLINICAL TRIAL WITH EASE
The Serenely Guided Foundation has partnered with Carebox Connect to provide patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals an easy way to search and match to rare disease clinical trials. We like to call it your Clinical Trial Concierge.
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Fundraisers & Public Events
photos by Harry Ehrlich Photography
Meet
Our Team
Shannah McArdle
Board Director, Event Advisor
Sarah Woods
Founder, President, Rare Disease Patient and Rare Mom
Alex Praschma
General Counsel
Foundation Directory
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PayPal Giving Fund
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Givebutter Fundraising
We are proud to feature fundraising campaigns with Givebutter.
About Serenely Guided Foundation
Founder Story
The Serenely Guided Foundation was founded by Sarah Woods in 2023 after her and her son were diagnosed with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT). During that time, Sarah noticed patients and caregivers often feel lost throughout the diagnostic journey in knowing what resources are available and how to access them in an easy way. By partnering with some of the world's most cherished brands and providing a direct line to nutrition, wellness, wearable devices, clinical trial access, and rare disease awareness, Sarah became inspired to create a fresh new way of giving.