CaringOn Newsletter – October 2015

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia, author

November is National Caregiver Month

We want to catch you caring! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and our website to find out how to get caught caring by supporting CaringOn. (Pictured: Patient Crystal Carrington presents her mother/caregiver, Ellezzie Simpson, with a CaringOn gift while CaringOn volunteers and the oncology team at Hopkins Bayview cheer them on.)

Help CaringOn continue to say THANK YOU to caregivers by supporting us with your donations!

What your dollars provide:

$50 – a meal for two at a local restaurant
$75 – a home health care nurse so the caregiver can relax and enjoy his or her gift
$100 – a rejuvenating spa treatment
$150 – the opportunity to recharge, refresh and renew in a hotel room for a night
$250 – tickets for a caregiver and a friend to attend a show or sporting event
$500 – helps CaringOn sustain its mission and expand its vision

Donate now and help us say thanks!

Donate to CaringOn!

Don’t Underestimate the Power of…

“The actions I saw reminded me that I wanted to spend my time with people that really saw me, and who understood how to be in the moment, not just use the moment so they could to check off another item on their list…” Read more about what Judy has to say about the power of taking the time to stop and say “I care.”

Giving Thanks to Those Who Care

There is no present like that of time. In CaringOn founder Judy Davanzo’s blog, she talks about how that phrase struck close to home for her. And it’s really behind all the work we do here at CaringOn, including our latest caregiver gifts, profiled below.

Our Recent Caregiver Gifts:

For Sheila from Hugh

Julie, nominated her mother, Sheila, who works full time, while still caring for her husband Hugh. Hugh surprised his daughter and wife to a day of spa treatments and lunch.

After enjoying her spa and lunch day with her daughter, Sheila said: “I truly did not know how much I needed this time away to relax and feel okay about not being right by my husband’s side every minute possible. This day helped me realize if I don’t take care of me, I can’t take care of him.”

Her husband Hugh responded: “Just by seeing how much this gift has meant to her has brought pure joy to my spirit. . . seeing her expression when she learned of this exceeds anything I can express with words.”

For Latoya from Gloria
Gloria Queen is an advanced breast cancer patient at Medstar Union Memorial Hospital; her daughter Latoya Wilson lives with her and takes care of her while going to college and working a fulltime job. CaringOn and Gloria surprised Latoya with a gift of dinner for two and an overnight stay at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel on Labor Day weekend 2015.

From Latoya: Being a caregiver has its challenging moments but I wouldn’t stop doing what I do for anything or anyone. My mom . . . was always there for me growing up. A single mom who did her very best to provide for me. The CaringOn gift truly made happy and honestly I felt appreciated.

From Gloria: The feeling of joy and love filled me as my beloved daughter got to have a nice night to herself. As for the blessings and goodness and the love that was given to us both…. God Bless Caring on…

Nominate a Caregiver to RECHARGE, REFRESH, RENEW with CaringOn today.

Nominate A Caregiver

Message from the Founders

As we approach the two and a half year mark of our work at CaringOn, we want to express our deep gratitude to all caregivers who are providing constant care to advanced cancer patients. It is their strong and tireless devotion to the task of â€œcaring onâ€ amidst a myriad of other challenges in their own lives, that persuaded us to found CaringOn. We want to thank these sometimes forgotten heroes. Caregiving is often the ignored part of the healthcare equation-but one of the most important! What we have seen has filled our hearts with love and admiration. This is our circle of love and â€œcareâ€ that defines our mission and connects us to our community of deserving caregivers who must not be ignored.

Thank you for supporting us! We look forward to our next two and half years together!

Judy Davanzo is Founder and President with Lee Kappelman, Co-Founder and Vice President of CaringOn. Both women are cancer survivors. Currently, Judy is waging her second battle with cancer. This time she is fighting advanced cancer.

Partners in Success

CaringOn has a new partnership with Medstar Hospitals in Baltimore. CaringOn has already bestowed several gifts to deserving caregivers and their grateful patients at two Medstar hospitals, Union Memorial and Good Samaritan. With many more nominations in the works we are looking forward to lifting patients spirits and providing caregivers with rest. We are very excited about growing our relationship with Medstar. Medstar is a community minded hospital and Caring On is a community organization. Both organizations focus on the needs of bettering the community in which we live, work & play.

CaringOn has also been working with cancer patients and caregivers at John’s Hopkins Hospital and its subsidiaries – Johns Hopkins at Bayview – and completed several gifts at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in downtown Baltimore and at the Bayview campus.

CaringOn has worked with patients and their caregivers at many other Maryland hospitals including GBMC, Mercy, University of Maryland St. Joseph’s Hospital and Franklin Square Hospital.

Recognition

CaringOn is thankful to have been recognized with the following honors from the community:

We were picked as an outstanding incubator nonprofit by the Points of Light Foundation.
We were awarded the Brooks Financial Group Community Foundation Champions in Life Award for our work to help caregivers in the Baltimore community.

CaringOn also has a WISH LIST of goods and services we need to reward our Caregivers with a special gift:

Frequent flier miles or reward points on airlines, hotels, rental cars, etc.
Discount coupons or gift certificates to restaurants
Discount coupons or gift certificates to movie theatres
Donated tickets to sporting events, concerts, plays, etc.
Gift certificates to spa services
Give a Caregiver a chance to RECHARGE, REFRESH, AND RENEW with time off to take a break and enjoy themselves â€” donate now or nominate a caregiver at www.caringon.org.

Make An In Kind Donation

Call for Volunteers

It is a very exciting time at CaringOn and we need you! Start thinking about your expertise and your passion. Do you enjoy working with people and making phone calls? Do you enjoy writing? Are you a people person or more behind the scenes? How are you at fundraising? We need it all!

If you or anyone you know is interested in helping, please email me. Thank you in advance for your support!
Susan Ferrer, Director, Volunteer Services

Volunteer With CaringOn

Keep An Eye On Us – Upcoming Events

Sunday, October 25, 8 a.m. in Hunt Valley – Join the SSJ/CaringOn team for Baltimore’s Race for the Cure. SSJ (Stay Strong Judy) was created by her daughter, son and husband 3 years ago when she first learned she had Stage 4 cancer. The money raised will help CaringOn receive Komen grant money to reward more caregivers. Join our team or donate to SSJ/CaringOn here: T eam Page of SSJ/CaringOn
Thursday, November 5th from 11 am – 10 pm – Join CaringOn at the California Pizza Kitchen in Hunt Valley to help support our cause. Bring in this flyer, present it to your server, and we’ll donate 20% of your check to the organization listed below. Purchases include dine in, take out, catering and all beverages.

November is National Caregiver Month and we have a lot of exciting things planned! Please visit our website, Facebook and Twitter to see what people are doing to support our mission. Your participation at these events helps us give advanced cancer patients joy when seeing their caregivers have some time to relax, recharge, and refresh.