I Asked a Few Recipiants of IHS for Feedback

January 29, 2019

And one response is provided for your knowledge IHS Support of the UVA Hospital Auxiliary Hospitality House From: Thomas Bninski, Hospitality Specialist, Patient & Guest Services "Thanks for again allowing us to request help from Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS). For many years now, IHS has been crucial to the level of hospitality we can provide to our guests. Both in the provision of food and payment assistance, IHS support has been absolutely indispensable to the welfare of our guests and our ability to accomplish our mission here. As you have witnessed over the last three years alone, UVA Health Systems still grows and serves an increasing number of patients in Charlottesville. The Hospitality House is still a vital housing assistance resource for them. The strain on our resources is unabated. Currently, of the 56 beds available, 71% percent are taken five days a week; on weekends, the average occupancy is 51% percent (more than double the average for previous years). IHS realizes, and helps with, the undiminished difficulties our guests face with affording Charlottesville prices for food and services. Since early last year, more and more guests are staying longer while undergoing radiation, and or chemotherapy, or awaiting a patient's rehabilitation; stays of six to eight weeks are unexceptional. Though our average weekday occupancy declined from last year, weekend occupancy rose. With the increasing length of such stays, we are still highly dependent on IHS supplementing the normal food drive donations of dry and canned goods with perishables such as fruit, vegetables, milk, juices, cheese, breakfast sandwiches and frozen dinners. All of this is provided at no cost to the guests and gives a huge boost to morale when they can prepare meals and are freed from logistical concerns. Additionally, IHS enables us to host monthly lunches and dinners, and keep a supply of water bottles and snacks available in the first floor lobby. Rest assured the food you have given here does not go to waste. Along with gratitude for the food, you have our thanks for the picnic ware (cups, flatware and plates) with which to serve our guests. In conclusion IHS's help makes it possible for us to help. It's been wonderful to receive your support. Thank you for all you have done. We hope your importance is fully appreciated and your work adequately supported." Thomas Bninski, Hospitality Specialist Thank you Thomas for those beautiful words of thanks and appreciation. It is always a pleasure to receive notes like this in regards to the help and assistance IHS renders during the year. We are always glad to continue to support the Hospitality House and visitors who are in need of food, shelter and hope. And, as always, please remember that all of us at IHS are non-paid volunteers, and we are all donating what we can to IHS personally. Also remember - for transparency we hold the "Gold Seal of Approval" from the Guidestar.org national clearing house. Please do what you can. And, if you would like to donate now to our cause, please click the button below to go to our encrypted secure on-line donation form.         Thank you for your support & much love  ...   T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn  Founding Members IHS

SPECIAL NOTICE for UVA Medical and University staff, and all other Virginia Commonwealth State Employees. The Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) begins October 1, 2019.  Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. (IHS) is a CVC charity.  To support our work for lodging, food programs, prescriptions & co-pays, pediatric support with infant car seats and clothing, etc. , designate your gift to CVC code 003648..

Just Sharing ... Some Personal Thoughts from T. Wade Clegg III

This past week I  met for lunch with three vibrant women who provided such a heightened measure of joy that I wanted to take a minute and share with all of you.  These ladies are involved as  leaders of two of the latest nonprofit charities,  namely Yellow Door Foundation and Lilypads Housing, both dedicated to the University of Virginia Children's Hospital Housing Collaborative. The collaborative is a collection of local non-profit organizations all working together to help provide different lodging options for UVA Pediatric families in need.  The collection  also includes the following:  Ronald McDonald House (RMH), The Alyssa House, and Open Arms. The Yellow Door Foundation has been active in Charlottesville for several years and Lilypads will activate placement of families this month. It was a delight to listen to these passionate professionals who have added to the lodging opportunities for families in need of family lodging for extended periods in settings which allow isolation for critical situations, such as recovery time for a transplant. Although the initial contact for many families will be through Ronald McDonald House for discussion; the House has only 19 bedrooms and is constantly fully occupied. As most of you who are familiar with Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS) know, we are not in direct contact with hospital patients and families, and our objective is for immediate short-term assistance, when a Social Worker calls. This is why IHS knew from the outset that 24/7 openness for contact with UVA Hospital Social Workers was needed. A need for lodging for the least able and unscheduled arrivals dictates a response to immediacy, even for late night Ronald McDonald House arrivals. It is such a delight to share this expanded opportunity for those patients and families so desperately in need of extended lodging by dedicated and deeply caring individuals. Please read their websites and learn of the diversity and goals of each charity.  Perhaps this will provide a stimulus to assist in one of the members lodging needs, and if you are located far away from Virginia, think of how you might participate in your own community, just as the collection of non-profits are helping in Charlottesville. Much love to you all, as we start another year of devotion to the least able among us. And, as always, please remember that all of us at IHS are non-paid volunteers, and we are all donating what we can to IHS personally. Also remember - for transparency we hold the "Gold Seal of Approval" from the Guidestar.org national clearing house. Please do what you can. And, if you would like to donate now to our cause, please click the button below to go to our encrypted secure on-line donation form.         Thank you for your support & much love  ...   T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn  Founding Members IHS

As You Read this Short Note, it is 2019!

For your information Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. has diligently pursued its objective to support the UVA Medical Center Office of Social Work for the last ten years. The main objective was and is to provide an additional avenue for indigent and/or grossly underfunded patients to have access for immediate temporary lodging, food packets, etc. through a Social Worker when patients and sometimes a caregiver arrive without adequate means and no clinic or agency is prepared for their arrival and/or financial support while preparation is managed within the Office of Social Work. A place to sleep, rest and something to eat remain at the top of the immediate needs of the least able guests who arrive in our community and experience delayed entry for a multitude of reasons. IHS is dependent upon caring friends, hospital staff, churches and periodic grants. Access the IHS website at http://www.interfaithhumanitariansanctum.org; learn the details of this charity's efforts. Ask how you or your family or group can participate... and lift the least able to sustain while visiting UVA Hospital. Thank you so very much for the last ten years of consistent or periodic help with funds for this effort. It is such a worthwhile endeavor . Much love and Happiness as we enter another year of caring.   And, as always, please remember that all of us at IHS are non-paid volunteers, and we are all donating what we can to IHS personally. Also remember - for transparency we hold the "Gold Seal of Approval" from the Guidestar.org national clearing house. Please do what you can. And, if you would like to donate now to our cause, please click the button below to go to our encrypted secure on-line donation form.         Thank you for your support & much love  ...   T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn  Founding Members IHS

SPECIAL NOTICE for UVA Medical and University staff, and all other Virginia Commonwealth State Employees. The Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) begins October 1, 2018.  Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. (IHS) is a CVC charity.  To support our work for lodging, food programs, prescriptions & co-pays, pediatric support with infant car seats and clothing, etc. , designate your gift to CVC code 003648..