What will be evident is that all of us serving the charity are volunteers. Yes...hours are posted for the record, but those hours represent a minimum required in the initial year, and throughout 2010 we have been accessible 24/7 for social worker contact.
Beginning in 2010 we allowed all wedding couples who use our ministerial services to donate a sizable part of their wedding fee directly to IHS for a tax deduction. That allowance not only gave each wedding an added depth of meaning, it has become a prominent source of income to sustain the charity, since IHS has never received a grant or an adequate number of consistent monthly donors.
Food Support from Charlottesville's Thomas Jefferson Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church has made such a difference in recent months. Their objective of 200 full day rations for caregivers at the UVA Hospital Pediatric Clinic will be realized after just one month. In fact, Teresa Bevins indicated that some of those gallon size zip lock bags, crammed with nutrition for a full day of eating for an adult, have been shared with caregivers at the Children's Cancer Center which is experiencing the same needs.
Someone asked a prominent question last week, "Are you telling me that those parents are here for weeks on end and without funds to properly eat?"
How were so many of these parents and family members who are here for weeks and months being sustained for their food needs? Isn't it evident from reading Teresa Bevins plea in the April 2010 entry? The answer is that they were going hungry most days, while their children were being treated by the most expensive and best care possible. Some were eating once a day from their own depleted funds. Some were being given money from social workers, nurses, doctors just to get by for a few days. Yes, some staff was sharing when these circumstances were noticed, since all too often these caregivers will simply allow themselves to be hungry before seeking assistance. There is already the feeling that their children are receiving excellent medical treatment, and to relate that they are going hungry is not acceptable. Pride can and has left far too many malnourished.
Someone else asked, "Where did those late night arrivals to the Medical Center sleep before you guys got involved?"
That question has been answered from the day this charity started.
"THEY WERE SLEEPING IN THE CORNER OF A LOBBY WHEN ALLOWED. THEY WERE SLEEPING IN THEIR CARS. WITH CHILDREN. THEY WERE EATING CRACKERS AND SODA FROM A MACHINE."Two nights ago at midnight, we received a call for an overnight social worker. A family had arrived with their child from southern Virginia. He was checked and released for a NEXT morning appointment in the medical center. Not entered as expected, and with inadequate funds for a hotel room, and a policy of no children in UVA Hospitality House, and too late for check-in at Ronald McDonald House, the social worker had only one place to call. He called IHS. Problem solved.
This was the third late night call for similar situations in two weeks with children. In the past a social worker was placed in the most awkward of positions. Please consider the strain on a social worker who has to tell a parent there is nothing he or she can do.
This was the past...and these situations must remain a thing of the past. They simply must!
It's that time of year when we are told that giving is most prominent. We are hopeful that a wind is headed into your life and the spirit of giving will allow you to share some of it with us. We have some pressing lodging needs at this time and winter brings a renewed sense of urgency.I am only asking for each of you to seek to provide a few dollars a month.
If more is possible, we will keep the pantry filled with food in Pediatrics, and the co-pay fund prepared and ready.
Please review what is possible. We will continue to perform full-time and allow our ministerial fees to sustain to the extent possible, but truthfully, we need your assistance now.
Blessings…T. Wade and Elisheva Clegg
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