Our Vision

A world where guy caregivers never feel alone.

Our Mission

Improve the way guys think, feel, and act through every phase of their caregiving journey.

Who We Serve

Anyone 18 and older who has cared for a loved one facing a health crisis. This includes anyone who has lost a loved one as well as anyone whose health crisis is currently in remission. While the purpose of our work is centered on guy caregivers (anyone who identifies as a guy), we also offer a variety of coed programming opportunities.

OUR IMPACT

On average the caregivers who responded to our 2022 annual survey reported Jack’s was responsible for 80% of a more than twofold improvement in how equipped they felt in their caregiving role.​

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OUR CORE VALUES

Compassion

Compassion is seeing your pain reflected in another person’s circumstances and then choosing to sit with them in the dark so they don't have to be alone. Compassion recognizes the dignity we all deserve and connects us to our shared humanity. Someone who is compassionate often gives themselves freely to others, often at their own expense, so that those they serve may feel less alone or maybe even be relieved of some of the burdens they bear. –Dustin Cesarek, Founder

Courage

​To me, the more important kind of courage isn’t the heroic kind. We have the opportunity to practice this less flashy, ordinary kind of courage every day. The kind that requires us to speak openly and honestly about how we’re feeling and about who we really are deep down inside. Ordinary courage happens when we’re afraid and yet we still take the actions our values require of us. –Kyle Woody, Founder

Resilience

Resilience is all about advancing despite the adversity we face. Being a caregiver taught me what it truly means to be resilient and how that allows us to get the most out of our precious time we have with friends and loved ones. -Justin Nicolay, Founder

Humility

Compassion is a relationship between equals. We are completely honest about ourselves. We stay teachable. We are confident in our strengths, and wide open about our weaknesses.  We measure our success through the effort we give in making others successful, we are relentlessly grateful. Honest feedback is like oxygen to us. We are modest in our trappings. We review our actions against the language of ego/pride. We are the guides in the story, not the heroes. -Kyle Woody, Founder

​Reliability

We keep our promises not only to others but also to ourselves. We strive for our say/do ratio to be 1/1. We strive for precision in our communications avoiding fuzzy words like “sure”. We are only satisfied when we are feeling inspired by and equipped for the challenges we face. -Kyle Woody, Founder

​Curiosity

We cultivate a mood of wonder where ignorance shows up as something positive, a new frontier to explore, an inspiration for our learning, not something to be embarrassed by or avoided. Our aim is mastery. We strive to reinvent the rules, to generate new discourses and disciplines. We are willing to override our perspective and choose a new one for the sake of learning and contributing to our field. -Kyle Woody, Founder

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​OUR FOUNDERS

KYLE WOODY
Founder & Executive Director

​Kyle, I'm here to serve you." Those words hit me like lightning. I didn't have cancer. I was "fine". It took me years to fully grasp the power of Jack's simple message, "Serve the caregiver".  There was nothing fine about how I was doing. And if I was struggling, then how could I expect anyone else in my family to thrive? Soon it was my turn to serve! First I found Justin, then Justin and I teamed up and found Dustin. And now the three of us serve by leading a rapidly growing organization that will continue to bring Jack's message to life long after the three of us are gone. 
–Kyle Woody

JUSTIN NICOLAY
​Founder & Director Emeritus

​Boats, beer, bikes, and Star Trek? Sounds like a hell of a party, right? What else would a Minnesotan with a wife and son do for fun on a Saturday night? I guess skiing and shoveling snow should be in there too. Jack's, to me, is about being the change I want to see in the world. That means helping people less familiar with the lake know where the shallows are so they don't .,bend their prop or sink. That means sharing a beer with a friend and talking about how the world just ain't right sometimes, and they get it. That means continuing to pedal that tandem bike when your partner is exhausted, and they aren't going to help you up that really steep hill. Live long and prosper. 
–Justin Nicolay

DUSTIN CESAREK
Founder & Director Emeritus

​​Life after a cancer diagnosis can sometimes feel like walking through the snow, uphill both ways, and you don't even know which way you're going or how the journey is going to end.  Meeting Kyle and Justin has changed my life. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on how hard it was to be the best husband and father I could be when, at times, I felt like I could barely keep my own head above water, and then do something about it. Now, with Jack's help, I have the ability to pay that forward. I can only hope that we can make the caregiving journey a little less difficult for the guys that come after us. To create a space where they can be themselves and not lose their identity to cancer. 
–Dustin Cesarek

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Are you a caregiver?

Learn more about Jack’s Caregiver Coalition’s programming for current and past caregivers of people with a health crisis.

Caregiver Programs

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