Yes Virginia ... It Was a Productive Year ... Thanks to Your Support

We don't have the luxury of contributors who would like to match your donations, but we promise to  continue to use every penny to serve those distance patients and families through UVA social staff to meet some very basic immediate needs. Those needs include shelter and food while coming from hundreds of miles for a chance to see a doctor.  And we promise to continue as a no paid group of volunteers to maintain a 24/7 presence for social workers, while using our own personal funds in this worthy task. That is how we plan to match your consideration with whatever is possible to assist in the year ahead.    Allow for just a Moment for us to share the Difference this Charity has made in 2012 IHS provided 109 commercial hotel rooms which temporarily served 191 guests who could not be accommodated in the UVA Hospitality House (HH), and paid for extended stays for 14 guests who could not afford the smallest fee at HH. IHS provided full-day meals through Social Workers who identify caregivers who are underfunded for their temporary stay near a loved one. More specifics below. IHS provided emergency co-pay and prescriptions as requested by social workers for indigent patients. IHS will have provided 45 infant car seats by this weekend for parents leaving the hospital with their child, but who find themselves without funds to secure a new safety seat. IHS asked Santa to make a Special Stop in Ivy on December 8th  The annual Christmas gathering hosted by the Marjorie Adam Realty Team in Ivy, Virginia was once again a wonderful afternoon for Marjorie's clients and their children.  IHS asked Santa to come to Charlottesville and spend about four hours talking to children, while photos were taken for placement into family memory books.  The activity allowed attendees to donate to IHS. Many of the children return every year and apparently are being well fed, for they are growing wonderfully.  They have noticeably changed over these 5 years, but Santa doesn't seem to age.  A special thanks again to Marjorie Adam and her family for her support in this excellent fund-raising event each holiday season.  IHS provided the Christmas Dinner Turkeys for the UVA Hospitality House Mary Jackson, Supervisor, reported that twenty-one (21) guests enjoyed a special meal on December 25th in the Hospitality House.  Staff prepared side dishes, and IHS provided organically raised pre-cooked turkey to feed about 24 people. Whole Foods Market donated the ham for this annual dinner.  One never knows exactly how many guests will be required to stay over a holiday, while still in out-patient treatment at UVA Medical Center; however, Mary said the food provided was more than enough for this year's visitors. In case you didn't know ... IHS is the only consistent provider of food items every week to ten days to stock the kitchen at Hospitality House (HH). The process of providing items is handled very directly by e-mail.  Mary Jackson sends a list usually on a Friday, with those items which are running very low. For example, yesterday (Sunday) December 30, the list read as follows:  Bacon (several pounds), Milk 2 gallons, Orange juice 2 gallons, Bread (several loaves and any bakery breads you can obtain fresh or frozen), eggs 2-3 dozen, Hot pockets (large box), 20 frozen dinners, cheese (large packet), fruits (any variety in bags), fruit cups (or small cans for individual use), and Laundry detergent (any kind any size) if possible.  This list can vary and may include paper plates, cups, bowls and plastic utensils and napkins, margarine, other juices, applesauce cups, can  vegetables, cereals, coffee and filters, sugar packets, creamers, drinking water by the case, etc.  These are examples of must have items. The consistency of support provided by IHS friends and the December 2011 grant for 2012 from Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band in Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (CACF) has made it possible to meet every HH request within 24 hours.   THANKS TO ALL! The 2012 Meal Packet Program Projection was on Target Before this week ends, IHS will have provided 2,488 full-day meals to Social Work in year 2012.  The projection was placed in the range of 2,500-3,000. The numbers continued to slide upward, but even without an increase in numbers, food item costs to make a full-day meal of quality have increased. If you calculate 2,488 meals at about six dollars each, that's $14,928.00. To take this a step further, 1,476 full-day meals were made by volunteer groups who purchased and assembled meals as a part of their community outreach programs. If you scroll through our blog postings at http://www.interfaithsanctum.blogspot.com, you will see the names of all those who made it possible to meet our requirement monthly.  That meant that 1,012 meals were assembled by IHS from food items purchased to meet the 2012 requirement. Our Wish this coming year? Quite frankly,  it's  to have more groups exposed to this charity and its never-ending effort to strengthen the safety net.  Allow us to bring more happiness to situations which need a strong injection of our community generosity.  It's not so much to ask, is it?  Wishing You a Happy New Year & Blessings ... T. Wade and Elisheva Clegg