Dear SHARE THE CARE Supporter,

Just in the last six months we know of more than 300 Share The Care groups that have been formed across the US, Canada as well as Iceland, Spain and Australia to care for people of all ages including children. 

The care recipients of these Share The Care groups have a wide variety of very difficult illnesses and conditions: all types of cancer – breast, lung, melanoma, brain tumors, and even some with multiple cancers, ALS, dementia, stroke, Alzheimer’s, septic shock, Huntington’s Disease, heart attack, COPD, Multiple Sclerosis, Macular Degeneration, and Parkinson’s Disease.  There are groups helping with other challenges like: a widower with 7 kids, a quadriplegic, someone with a broken back and limbs, the frail elderly, a mother with a new baby, and to help teens transition to foster care.

If you are one of these caregivers or someone about to embark on being part of a Share The Care group then you understand (or are beginning to catch a glimpse of) the profound difference it makes to your care recipient and their family to be surrounded by your love and support.  We salute you and your amazing work and dedication.

So, you will understand, with the end of the 2009 in sight, our board and staff at ShareTheCaregiving feel an even more urgent need to spread our cost-effective, community-based caregiving program.  As you know, SHARE THE CARE is much more than a just a book or model–it’s a life-changing experience for everyone involved.

Please help us by sending a tax-deductible donation of $100 or $200 to the ShareTheCaregiving Organization now.  We may even want to rally your SHARE THE CARE group to mobilize a team contribution of $500 or more. It will help us with keeping the “lights on” in our office over the next year.

If every caregiver who has benefited from our grassroots program will pledge a personally meaningful financial contribution now, together we can continue to grow and make SHARE THE CARE a meaningful part of our caregiving culture. 

Your immediate show of support will enable us to attract foundation and corporate sponsors.

Currently we’re seeking in matching funds needed to build our SHARE THE CARE Individual Group Sites Project. We now only need $16,000 more to start building this important extension to the model.  If you or someone you know can help us, please let us know.

ALL GIFTS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE.  EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES.

We also invite you to donate in honor of or in memory of a friend or loved one.  You may donate online (www.sharethecare.org) or by check.

Make checks payable to ShareTheCaregiving/NCCI, and send to:

ShareTheCaregiving, Inc.

C/oThe National Center for Civic Innovation – 6^th floor

121 Avenue of the America’s

New York, NY 10013-1590

We hope you will include your name and address so we can acknowledge your gift.  Also, let us know your SHARE THE CARE group’s name.  We welcome your stories and photos for our web site.

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY HOLIDAY.

With deep appreciation and warmest regards from out board and staff. 

Sheila Warnock

Founder & President

________________________________________________________________________________

OUR 2009 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

I.  AWARDS and MAJOR GIFTS:

¬ We only need $16,000 more in grants or donations to build our web-based Individual Group Sites Project.  We recently received two matching grants ($10,000 each) from The Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation and EmblemHealth toward this important extension to the model.   

¬ The Share the Care program received the 2009 Respite Services Achievement Award, for Cross-generational Caregiving.  The award is from the Statewide Caregiving & Respite Coalition of New York.  We wish to congratulate our program funding partners with whom we share this meaningful recognition:  The Balm Foundation, The Aetna Foundation, and HIP (now EmblemHealth.)

¬ We have also been awarded up to $10,000 in pro bono coaching and capacity-building services from SEED (Stretch, Enliven, Ennoble, Discover).  Beginning in November 2009, our core staff will participate in the SEED Diagnostic (www.seedimpact.org) to assess impact and performance.  Following a half-day “creative stretch” workshop to define strategic growth intentions, monthly coaching sessions will be customized to keep us aligned with our vision and track outcomes.  

2.  TRAINING AND KEYNOTES 

This year we trained approximately 350 professionals and clergy in New York, Alaska and South West Ontario.  We introduced Share The Care to approximately 937 professionals, clergy and caregivers in New York City and State, Oregon, and Winnipeg (Manitoba.)

3. INTERNAL GROWTH AND CAPACITY

New Office:  Thanks to former Board Member, Fran Heller, we were able to reduce costs by moving our office to a new location in April.  We are located within VENTURA, a Marketing and Sales Promotions Company on Sixth Avenue and 39^th Street.  Our mailing address is c/o the National Center for Civic  Innovation (our fiscal sponsor). 

New Administrator:  In July, Phyllis Califano, a former co-worker of Sheila’s from her earliest advertising days at Doyle, Dane, Bernbach joined the ranks of ShareTheCaregiving as our Volunteer Administrator.  She was just retiring from her job as an Account Management Supervisor at McCann Erickson, and was looking to “give back” as a volunteer somewhere.  Luckily we were that “somewhere.”

Two New Volunteer Outreach Directors:

Hawaii:  Kimi Chun joined the ranks of our Volunteer Outreach Directors this summer.  She was the lead player in the well-known “Peg’s Legs” Share The Care group in Honolulu for nearly six years until Peggy passed away in late 2008.  Kimi is featured on our web site under “SHARE YOUR ADVICE” in a Q & A about how she organized “Pegs Legs” to work in shifts and how she enlisted volunteers in each shift to become medically trained to care for the needs of an ALS patient. Kimi has already been instrumental in helping many new groups including one for an 8-year old girl and her family. In 2006, Sheila nominated Kimi as Caregiver of the Year, in an on-line competition – Kimi won!

4. SHARE THE CARE IN OTHER COUNTRIES

South West Ontario Share the Care Initiative:  Sheila completed four trainings to help launch this new program.  Share The Care Coordinator for the initiative, Eugene Dufour, encourages and manages the efforts of health professionals and clergy in the region, while also serving as our Volunteer Outreach Director for South West Ontario.  Eugene is a clinically-trained marital and family therapist, specializing in bereavement, compassion fatigue, and critical incident debriefing.  He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from King’s University College at The University of Western Ontario and has been working in palliative care, mental health, and the HIV/AIDS movement for 25 years.  In 2002, the Governor General of Canada presented Eugene with the Commemorative Medal for his work in hospice palliative care, at the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Expanding our Reach: In April, we began requesting basic demographic information as a part of online registrations to download our forms.  Since then, we have learned of more than 300 new Share The Care groups and can now document them (present and past) in  They include: the United States, Canada, Israel, Iceland, Australia, and Spain.

The Statewide Caregiving & Respite Coalition of NY

Announces the Winners of it’s

 “2009 Caregiving & Respite Achievement Awards.”

The Statewide Caregiving & Respite Coalition of NY (SCRCNY) announced the winners of its 2009 Caregiving & Respite Achievement Awards today. The purpose of the achievement award program is to honor outstanding, innovative and creative caregiving & respite services that have a long-range impact on citizens and/or the community within New York State.

“There are so many great programs that may only be known in a town, village or county. These programs are very unique, well thought out, are proven to work and should be shared statewide.” says Joanne Macklin, SCRCNY Executive Director. “We are privileged to be able to offer these awards and recognize the outstanding caregiving & respite services that make a tremendous impact on the lives of caregivers, care receivers and their families.

The Senior Services Achievement Awards has four categories:

1. Cross-generational Caregiving- Services and Programs that assist caregivers caring for people across the lifespan and across all disability areas.  

2. Kinship Care Programs - Services and Programs that benefit Kincare caregivers and the children they care for.  

3. Aging Services Caregiving Programs - Services and Programs that assist informal caregivers in their efforts to care for older persons who need help with everyday tasks to enable them to remain in the community.

4. Disabilities Services Caregiving Programs - Programs involving respite services for caregivers of individuals with disabilities through innovative programming.         

This years’ winner are:

1.     Cross-generational Caregiving – ShareTheCaregiving, Inc. of New York, NY. Share the Care is a grass roots movement that began in 1995. The mission of the Share the Care program is to improve the “quality of life” of persons who are seriously ill, disabled or experiencing the challenges of aging, and to reduce stress, depression, isolation and economic hardship often suffered by their family caregivers.

2.     Kinship Care Programs – Catholic Charities Caregiver Support Services Kinship Caregiving Programs of Albany, NY. The Kinship Caregiving Program’s goals and objectives are to offer support to relatives who are raising relative’s children. The program began in 1997 with seven caregivers and 12 youngsters. Currently the program services 77 families consisting of 94 caregivers and 134 children. The program provides families with the support and services they need in order to keep the family intact and prevent the children from entering the foster care system.

3.     Aging Services Caregiving Programs – Mercy Care for the Adirondacks, Lake Placid, NY. Mercy Care’s mission is to enhance in every dimension the fullness of life of elders and their caregivers living in their community independently. Mercy Care’s mission is implemented through: a) The offering of companionship and  friendship to relieve isolation and loneliness; b) The extending of advice, referral and assistance to elders and to their caregivers; c) The development of elder-friendly communities which encourage the participation and civic engagement of older adults; and d) The promotion through education and advocacy of a fullness of life for older adults in the communities of the Adirondacks.

4.     Disabilities Services Caregiving Programs  – Schenectady County Chapter, NYSARC, Inc., Schenectady, NY.  Schenectady NYSARC has developed an after school program created in direct response to families requiring an affordable program to address the specialized after-school needs of children. The program, provided at no cost to families, is particularly novel in that it is Schenectady County’s only fully integrated after-school program for children with developmental disabilities.  Goals of the program are 1) Provide relief to families who have traditionally sacrificed employment, leisure and other personal opportunities in order to provide after-school supervision for their children; 2) Provide students with enriching and productive after-school activities; 3) Assist non-disabled children (participating in our elementary after-school program) to acquire an increased awareness of the needs and issues facing individuals with disabilities.

Congratulations to this year’s winners and their truly remarkable caregiving & respite services.

Statewide Caregiving & Respite Coalition of NY (SCRCNY) is a statewide cross-generational cross-disciplines, network of organizations, whose mission it is to provide support services for caregiver and respite programs by fostering cooperative efforts to develop public awareness, advocacy, professional development and fund development.

SCRCNY is a program of the NYS Coalition for the Aging, Inc. The projects’ goal is to organize statewide caregiver and respite programs, develop a communication strategy and mechanisms to share best practices, education and training, other relevant caregiver and respite information and to position New York State, so that we may receive federal caregiving and/or respite care dollars.

The awards will be presented at a SCRCNY awards luncheon on November 17, 2009 at the Carondolet Hospitality Center in Latham, NY.