Casey truly cares

Mandy Bloodsworth’s world was upside down. Her then-7-year-old son, Liam Brown, had just had surgery to remove an ependymoma—a malignant brain tumor. Now he was recovering on the oncology floor; she was beside herself with worry. But Liam had something else on his mind.

“My son hated wearing hospital clothes,” Bloodsworth ’03 says, laughing at the memory. It’s now two years later, and Liam is doing great.

It may seem like a small thing, but to a kid suffering from a debilitating illness who’s in the hospital, the little things matter. This turned out to be one problem, among a million other ostensibly more serious ones, that his mom didn’t have to deal with. Within a day, a brand-new set of pajamas arrived, courtesy of the Casey Cares Foundation.

“Just being able to wear pajamas made him feel like normal,” Bloodsworth says. “And they were so cozy. He was so happy.”

Infusing kids—even those in the worst of health circumstances—with joy is Casey Baynes’ calling. She’s the Casey who truly, with all her heart, cares. Since Baynes ’98 started the foundation that bears her name and her mantra a quarter century ago, she’s dedicated herself to ensuring that sick children and their families know that they’re not alone in their battles.

Helping thousands of families every year

Since its inception in 2000, more than a half million people have benefited from the foundation’s efforts.

Each year, it dispenses more than $3 million in:

• pajamas
• birthday presents
• tickets to sporting events
• tickets to attractions like the National Aquarium
• other gifts to families

Casey Cares also provides programs like its Better Together Bereavement Circle group. The foundation serves more than 1,600 families a year in eight states and Washington, D.C., and statistically, every 15 minutes, Baynes says, the Casey Cares Foundation lends a helping hand.

“It’s that ongoing nature of our programs that we believe really gives the families the stability, the faith and the support that they need as they go through the journey,” she says. “It’s just so wonderful to be able to come into people’s lives and make an impact. There are so many families who will say to us, ‘I haven’t seen my kids smile in months. And you made them laugh.’ That is an amazing opportunity to be able to help.”

Finding purpose through compassion

Baynes is a Marylander through and through. She grew up in Harford County, where she spent winters playing basketball, springs on the softball diamond and summers in Ocean City. School was always a challenge for Baynes, who is dyslexic. Teachers either didn’t understand or didn’t care about her condition, but her parents were unrelentingly supportive.

There are so many families who will say to us, ‘I haven’t seen my kids smile in months. And you made them laugh.’ That is an amazing opportunity to be able to help.”

Casey Baynes

“My mom always said, ‘You can do anything in this world,’” she says.

Frustrated by people doubting her, she began taking classes at Harford Community College while she was still in high school. Computer science, with its seemingly never-ending series of zeros and ones, was beautifully logical to someone with dyslexia, she says.

Armed with a high school diploma and an associate degree, she enrolled at what was then Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) where she took pre-med courses with the goal of becoming an OB/GYN. But she pivoted, transferred to Salisbury University and earned her bachelor’s degree in communication. After graduating she went to work for Grant A Wish as a program coordinator.

“It’s interesting how the world works, right?” she says. “I grew up wanting to be a doctor. And then as we went on, I was like, ‘Oh, that might not be my thing.’ And then I get this great opportunity to work with the community and patients. And that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is coming full circle.’ Maybe it wasn’t medicine, per se, but helping these families go through such tough times."

While working for her parents’ trucking company, Baynes earned a master’s degree from TU in liberal arts studies. She focused on marketing and public relations.

“The professors used their experience in the field and brought it to us,” she says. “That approach worked so well for me.”

The experience that sparked Casey Cares

During her time at TU, Baynes continued her lifelong pursuit of volunteering. It started with a push from her parents. As a kid, Baynes didn’t love going to church. She would do anything—sometimes hiding all her left shoes—to get out of it. Needless to say, it drove her dad crazy.

“He got tired of my games, and he’s like, ‘Fine, if you don’t go to mass, then you have to volunteer in the hospital or at the food kitchen. You have to do something in the community before next week’s mass,’” she says.

Baynes decided to help feed the homeless. That experience sparked a lifelong love of community service. She continued volunteering through high school, college and grad school, and one night found herself cleaning bedpans at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

In one room, a kid told her that he’d love to meet a racecar driver. Baynes took it upon herself to call Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware. She recounted the story and asked if they would send a driver to visit the boy. What could be the worst that happens, she thought. They say no?

They said yes. The driver arrived in his jumpsuit, the kid went nuts and his parents cried. As Baynes stood back and watched the scene unfold, she heard a murmur from behind the curtain that divided the room in two.

“I hear a voice say, ‘I wish I had cancer. Maybe I’d get cool stuff too,’” she recalls. “My first reaction was, ‘Who says that?’ And then I walked around the curtain, and I looked over, and there is this mom, like a human shield trying to block her son from seeing what’s going on here. I was like, ‘Oh my God. He doesn’t want cancer. He wants somebody to be like, ‘Buddy, we got you, and we’re here to help.’ That’s when I became obsessed with helping all critically ill kids.”

Building a foundation of hope

From that chance encounter, Casey Cares was born. It was a grassroots organization from the start. Baynes ran it out of the trucking company offices, and from its earliest days relied on her social network to open doors to organizations such as the Orioles and the Ravens. Funded by individuals, corporate donations, grants and fundraisers, it grew slowly until, about 15 years ago, she made running it her full-time job.

Brent Harris ’90 was a volunteer from just about the jump. A former sports broadcaster (and former adjunct professor at TU), he emceed some of its golf tournaments and other fundraising events.

I think it’s really cool that it’s kind of come full circle. Here I am now as a parent, and I’m able to benefit from Casey Cares personally.

Kate Bardroff ’13

“Casey has incredible energy,” he says. “She never stops. She meets with the families. She’s at all the events. And I think that has an impact. When you spend time with mom and dad, the brothers and sisters and the children that are going through it, I think that’s different than a lot of other organizations. When you talk to families, they always say, ‘I know they care. I know they’re going to be there for us.’ It’s very genuine.”

In 2007, Baynes’ parents’ trucking company, then still home to Casey Cares as well, suffered a devastating fire. The foundation’s office and records were lost—but Baynes’ resolve was not.

“Rebuilding Casey Cares was so refreshing and so energizing,” she says. “It was just four walls. Look at these families. They’re fighting for their kids’ lives. And that, I think, really helped us fight back.”

(Left) Baynes at Casey Cares' headquarters in Columbia, Maryland. (Right) This mug survived the fire that decimated Casey Cares’ old offices.

Today, Casey Cares has six core programs, including Kami’s Jammies (the pajama donation program, which is named in memory of Kamryn, who preferred PJs to hospital gowns before she died of leukemia in 2007) and Hammy’s Heart (named in honor of Abraham “Hammy” Scrivner), which donates gift cards to families who need assistance with their grocery bills. One of the most popular programs is Birthday Blasts, in which a child gets a present on their special day.

The ripple effect of caring

Kate Bardroff ’13 was familiar with Casey Cares long before she unfortunately needed its help. When she was an undergraduate at TU, one of her family and human services classes had a community service requirement. While she volunteered for Art With A Heart, several of her classmates worked at Casey Cares.

“I remember they said how great it was, what an amazing experience they had,” she says. “I think it’s really cool that it’s kind of come full circle. Here I am now as a parent, and I’m able to benefit from Casey Cares personally.”

Casey has incredible energy. She never stops...And I think that has an impact. When you spend time with mom and dad, the brothers and sisters and the children that are going through it, I think that’s different than a lot of other organizations.

Brent Harris ’90

Bardroff’s twin sons Rylan and Landon Anderson were born three months premature. They both have a rare genetic disorder called Pataki Lupski Syndrome. Rylan also suffers from cerebral palsy and retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer. He had an eye removed and went through six rounds of chemotherapy.

“We had been through so much, surgery after surgery, medical crisis after medical crisis. I just didn’t have the time to think, ‘Are there resources out there that can help?’” Bardroff says. “Casey Cares is an amazing organization for the family as a whole. Because when your child is sick, you’re going through it as well.”

Bardroff and her husband, Bobby, got Orioles tickets from Casey Cares for a much-needed grown-up night out. When Rylan, who like his brother, Landon, is thriving now, turned 6 in August, he got a Casey Cares blanket.

“He loves it so much,” his mother says, “that I’m going to be bringing it to school with him.”

Dori Capodanno ’03 is a nurse in Howard County. She’s known Baynes for years and has served on Casey Cares’ advisory board since 2023, so she’s seen the impact of the organization from a number of different angles. 

“You get so stuck in the day-to-day of checking your MyChart and knowing what is happening with each appointment. Everything is medical related,” she says of families with sick kids. “It feels like there’s no time to breathe and to just enjoy watching your kids—including your healthy kids—have smiles on their faces and getting to enjoy things with their siblings. I love when kids go to things like Disney on Ice or monster trucks because you see the kids light up and come to life. It brings joy to everybody and memories that last forever.”