Reach Out For Youth (ROFY) is an organization founded in 1979 to help children with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other gastrointestinal diseases.  We provide a hand to hold, a shoulder to lean on, and the voices of experience from those who have raised children with Crohn's and related diseases and know how important support and education is for the child and the family.  

Our volunteers help children and their families through personal support and education, traveling to hospitals, doctor's offices, homes, and wherever we are needed.  Living with IBD can be difficult at times. Reach Out for Youth offers families the opportunity to call at any time to discuss their concerns.  When children feel apprehensive about office visits, hospital stays, testing, treatments, etc., we send an experienced visitor to provide
support and comfort.   All you have to do is call and we will be there for your child and your family.  You can contact us by calling 631-293-3102 or click here to send an email to info@reachoutforyouth.org.     

ROFY offers educational programs and social gatherings for children who need to know that they are not alone and that they can have a good and healthy life even with their disease.   Working with research centers, internationally respected medical specialists and other healthcare professionals, we serve to bring their knowledge to children and parents and foster a dialogue that helps advance clinical and research progress on Crohn's and other IBD related issues.

ROFY is also an active fundraising organization that supports the efforts of researchers through data collection at North Shore/Long Island Jewish Hospital and through a multi-center research program. Over the years, our financial support has helped many pediatric gastroenterologists conduct studies on Crohn's with data specific to pediatric patients.  

Current practice standards for the treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in children have largely evolved from extrapolation from research data from adult patients Recognizing the need for more accurate data specific to children, the multi-center Pediatric IBD Registry was initiated in 2002 as a collaborative research venture. ROFY is proud to support these research efforts.  For more information on the studies, click here. 

We invite you to look through the site, and hope that you will take a close look at our brochure, The Inside Story, located in the Education Section.  If you prefer, send us an email and we will be happy to send you a copy. 

As always, if you have any questions or if we can help in any way, contact us.  We are here for you.

Susan Spellman