In 1986, Arnie Cohen was finishing 12 years as Volunteer President of the Special Olympics when his wife Susan asked him to join her in attending a fundraiser. At that time, Susan was teaching at McDowell Elementary School, and the fundraiser was for a 7-year-old McDowell student, Bethany Rank, who had leukemia.

The Cohen family attended the fundraiser at a local pizza parlor. They sat with the Rank family and listened to the story of Bethany. She was born with a birth defect, which required major surgery, and after recovering from that, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Due to all of the additional expenses surrounding a child with a life threatening illness, the family was faced with the possibility of losing their home.

As the Cohens listened to this story with their two healthy children, they decided that something needed to be done for the Rank family. They walked from home to home in their neighborhood with their children and raised about $900.00 for the Ranks. When they gave the money to the Ranks, they felt a strong desire to do more for them; to help save their home, and reduce the unexpected financial burdens placed upon them.

The Cohens got together with some friends and other community leaders and organized a fundraiser for the Ranks. At that time, they also became aware of another family in Petaluma with a child who had cancer. The Hughes family home was about to go into foreclosure and they were also faced with decisions about choosing between paying for Joshua's chemotherapy or paying the PGE bill.

This of course was absolutely unacceptable to Arnie and Susan Cohen. They then decided to form a non-profit organization. A short while later, the Carousel Fund had its first fundraiser which raised $28,000.00. Half of the money went to the Rank family and half went to the Hughes family.

Today the all-volunteer Carousel Fund holds its fundraising event annually for families in the Petaluma community battling to keep their children alive.

Joshua and Bethany are alive and well today.