A Giant Corporation and a Tiny Catholic Church

A giant corporation and a tiny Catholic Church both reached across the miles to assist this small charity in its efforts to weave a stronger safety net.

August 2010 brought us two supportive partners, namely Pinnacle Foods Group, headquartered in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, and Christ the King Catholic Church in Abingdon, Virginia.

Pinnacle Foods began providing coupons to assist with purchases of their brand of large frozen dinners, at least through the end of 2010. This has made such a difference, as you will recognize in the e-mail (see below) we received from Teresa Bevins, Clinical Social Worker and coordinator of the program at the UVA Medical Center Pediatric Clinic. The Pinnacle assist covers half of our present monthly need, a big share indeed.

In her very personal note to me, Michelle Weese, Pinnacle Foods Communications, stated:

“First, let us commend you for the fabulous works you are doing for the families visiting the UVA Medical Center. The role you are playing as an advocate for these families is one that is very important. We realize that these families are going through life changing experiences and the trials that they are enduring are difficult. It is people like you that make a difference as you care for their needs and bring them the daily kindnesses that get them through the day, the week, and the event in their life. Thank you for your dedication and the tireless hours you spend caring for people. In response to your original appeal to us, Pinnacle Foods will be sending you coupons for frozen dinners monthly for the balance of 2010. We hope that this removes the worry for the basic need for food for some of the families who will be spending time at the UVA Medical Center. Our best wishes go out to those families and we hope that you can convey that for us. Best of luck in your charitable endeavors and again, thank you for your outreach to us.”

The other consistent contributor is Christ the King Catholic Church in Abingdon, Virginia. Abingdon is over 250 miles from Charlottesville.

Pastor Father Paul Maier wrote:

“Dear Friends, by way of explanation, our church hopes to make this a monthly pledge ($50) for as long as we are able. Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic follow-up patients will be heading to Charlottesville, so perhaps our little bit will help. God Bless…Father Paul.”

The RAM clinic patients referred to by Father Paul are those who have been treated in the free clinic in Wise, Virginia, and will often be sent to Charlottesville for further diagnosis and treatment. Most frequently they are unemployed, without insurance, and other than the free clinic, they have no access to medical and dental treatment. Father Paul and his small church became aware of IHS support of social workers who assist these long distance patients. IHS functions solely in support of the UVA Medical Center Social Staff.

Last Friday we received the following note from Teresa Bevins, in which she asked specifically to relate her note to those who support IHS with donations. She wrote:

“Dear Reverends Clegg, as usual we stay quite busy with families in need here at the hospital. Today , as last Friday also, I was contacted by adult social workers with caregivers and patients that were staying in the community to receive chemotherapy or radiation and did not have funds to eat. Fortunately, I had a significant amount of frozen meals and breakfast items that IHS donated to us and was able to meet these needs for 3 adult patients/ caregivers. It is understatement to say how much your valiant efforts are appreciated by the UVA Social Work Department in pursuing outside donations through your charity to help us meet these deserving people of various communities around Virginia. Some of these patients will be here for many weeks per our oncology social worker Vikki Bravo. It is a pleasure for us as social workers to be able help these deserving individuals and families in their time of need. In addition, I referred another social worker to you for lodging.

I know I speak for myself and others to say IHS is making a difference in the lives of patients and families here at UVA. It always amazes me how those with the least often try to donate such as the church you mentioned in your e-mail to me. These are truly angels working on the behalf of mankind. Please feel free to share my letter with your benefactors, as I am sure they will appreciate knowing the wonderful work you both are doing. Sincerely, Teresa Bevins BSW, Clinical Social Worker, UVA Children’s Hospital”

As many contributors and readers know, IHS has a responsibility to observe confidentiality of patients, and this we do with diligence. Therefore, it is so very much appreciated when a social worker relates exactly how the funds are beneficial from their own personal experiences.

Your $5-$25-$50 donation keeps the lodging and food available. Your discussion with your church, your golf club, your service club, your business, your own family to place us on an outreach program is so very much needed. Lodging donations are not presently matching the need. Please consider us in your giving, even with a few dollars a month. No one working for this charity receives a dime, and we are personally the largest donor to support this effort. Your gift is totally aimed at bills for lodging, food, travel and co-pays.

Direct link to IHS Donation Site: http://www.interfaithhumanitariansanctum.org

Blessings…T. Wade Clegg III

Forgetting to Give

We all experience grief when we see the visuals on television of a catastrophic event someplace in the world. It could be the eruption of a volcano, a tsunami, an earthquake, a hurricane or a flood. We still remember the pictures of Haiti from January of this year, and rightfully so!

It will take a long time for any type of normalization to be established. The majority of humans will immediately try to give what they can to alleviate the suffering and pain of the effected population. What always has a great impact are those pictures of suffering infants and children.

Seeing the outpouring of donations always makes me feel good knowing there are people who still care about others. At the same time I would like to remind all my friendship network not to forget the suffering and pain close by – right here in your back yard.

It’s not visually available on a television screen. So, when I write to you about the “unmet needs”, when I write to you about a mother sitting for weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or when there is a husband, wife or family members in need of lodging and food while awaiting the outcome of their loved one at UVA Medical Center, or a patient coming for treatment from a long distance but with no place to sleep and nothing to eat, I can only hope that you can visualize this yourself within your heart and minds.

I know television advertisements are very powerful, but we can only utilize the printed media to convey the suffering, agony, pain right here in our back yards. It’s a BIG BACK YARD – it’s West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, DC and right here in Virginia.

The patients come from all these areas, and so do the unmet needs with them. The need for food in the freezers at the hospital has increased. The need for lodging and accommodations is increasing consistently as well as co-pays and subsistence for medical co-pays and transportation. These needs for funding are rising monthly.

Please remember we are a non-paid staff. We don’t have a fancy office. Every dollar donated is being allocated back to the charity and these needs. There are no fancy advertisements or pictures in your mailbox. Wade, Sam and I are still the largest contributors to the charity. So far, we have not had to turn anyone down or say , “No!” to any request, BUT it is getting very hard. And, I am worried about the future to be able to meet these unmet needs!

Is it possible next time you receive a IHS blog describing one of these cases, you visualize this case in your minds as vividly as sharply as any television plea or advertisement would be? We are not taking care of the whole world. We are not expanding with office space and overhead into other areas.

We just want to take care of the true needs RIGHT HERE … of those who are in need of help here in our own back yard coming from such long distances!

Allow me to mention a few real life cases this past week. Please understand the sensitivity issue for hospital patients and their privacy, although the chances of a patient ever reading this blog is slim. Remember – we are not known to patients and families 99% of the time. They only know that a social worker is assisting them to secure assistance.

Call from social worker X: “Can you assist with two nights in Hospitality House(HH) for patient Y? She’s here for an ovarian cancer appointment. She has Medicaid but the kind that she has doesn’t pay for HH. She and her family driver can stay in one room together.” Note: This patient cannot even afford the $10 per night rate for hospitality house. Room is secured.

Call from social worker T: Alert e-mail: “We are extremely low on meals this week. Can we meet Thursday? We had a high turnover of patients over the past few days (July 4^th weekend). Families are very appreciative and this still continues to serve many areas of the hospital past the pediatric floors as my other social work colleagues are aware they can access the meals by paging me. We are down to about 5 meals on PICU, 7 on 7 west, and 7 on central. Thanks so much.” Note: We make contact with Teresa Bevins or associate every two weeks and shop and deliver within hours of an alert of low supplies (frozen dinners for at least three freezers).

Call from social worker K: “Indigent patient, stays in a home in southern Virginia, came up for an appointment on a one-way bus ticket that someone bought for him. Stayed last night in hospitality house (HH) (which he has no money for) and today missed his appointment because he couldn’t read the appointment slip. Has to stay over another night. No bus ticket home, and needs one more night in HH. Can you assist?” Note Response: If transportation fund in social work is low, we will reimburse for ticket home. Both nights in HH covered.

Call from social worker V: “Patient being treated for lung cancer coming from 5 hours away in Palliative Care Clinic. Has chronic pain. Return in same day very problematic, 10 hours on road. Not enough funds to balance a night here. Hospitality House (HH) full. Can you manage one night for her and her family driver in a hotel?” Note Response: Yes, here is her reservation number. Ask if she has enough money for food while in hospital. Access to freezer for sign-out is available through you.

T. Wade tells a story of his Mother’s admonition when he was a boy in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She would ask him almost every day, “Wade, have you checked on Miss Cora?” Miss Cora was the elderly woman just down the street. Wade’s Mother (Grace Wells McCullough Clegg) had a list of people in her mind that she called, visited and delivered hot meals. Grace was the ultimate example of caring for others with special needs. Watching out for Miss Cora is very much at the core of this charity’s existence.

There has never been a dedicated charity which responds with such immediacy to back up the UVA social workers seeking to serve so many clients coming to this major medical center. We are seeking diligently to maintain that posture for temporary assistance as their final safety net.

Will you help us out now by clicking below and reaching into your hearts? http://www.interfaithhumanitariansanctum.org/donate.php

Blessings…Elisheva

Food supplies making a real impact!

Teresa Bevins, clinical social worker in UVA Medical Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) sent me a few notes this week. She related a recent case of a mother whose child from northern Virginia transferred here from an outside hospital. The woman speaks very little English and requires an interpreter; however, she was able to tell Teresa that she had no money, and her friends were watching her other kids at home and she needed help.

After providing this young mother with a number of meals, she responded to Teresa with, “God bless you” in Spanish.

Teresa has notified other social staff that they just need to page her to access the meals which IHS is providing directly to Teresa and stored in freezers in PICU every two weeks. There is a sign-out procedure in place, which has now extended access to all social workers in the main hospital to meet these family needs, even overnight.

Teresa said that this monthly stocking of freezers has enabled parents to stay with their little ones and not stress about how to afford a meal. She added, “Your efforts and those of donors who support you, are truly a blessing to so many families.”

A tiny safety seat is no small thing…

We have now received three calls in the last year from social staff for assistance with child safety seats. Last week it was for a booster seat for a child from out of state who was sent to the Medical Center in an ambulance. The family had a seat at home, but it was not brought with them when they were transported to be with the child. The family did not have funds to buy another one, and had already received gas vouchers to help get them home. A child cannot be discharged until he or she is able to be discharged to a vehicle for safe travel, and the booster seat made that happen. The seat can be used for the child’s little sister next year when she will need the extra one for traveling. We made the purchase of the seat and delivered it quickly.

Lodging needs shift monthly…

May and June have been active for fee assistance for UVA Hospitality House, especially for patients and families in need of week- long stays. It’s the most reasonable room rate around, but when one has no funds to stay for the week or balance that stay by not eating, then the most economical room is not reasonable.

Commercial hotel rooms are still very much used when Hospitality House is either full or a child is out of necessity with a family member. Also, when a child arrives with a family member by Medicaid taxi and Ronald McDonald House is full and not able to receive them upon arrival, then the alternative is a hotel room , of which many arrivals can simply not afford. IHS has assisted numerous times over the last year, and again last week.

Lodging funds running very low…

Most of you know that we are personally the largest funding source for this charity, and we are now doing that by allowing more couples to make their ministerial fee deposit as a donation directly to the charity. That is now about $150-$200 per wedding, but it is simply not enough to sustain lodging costs.

We only perform about 2-3 weddings a month throughout the year and those are generally concentrated from April –November. The other months are truly pressing. That means we are personally allowing ministerial fees up to $600 average monthly, and working full-time in the charity with overhead of accounting, legal, promotional and computer needs, and as you know, none of us takes a penny from these efforts. These internal costs are in addition to our direct donations to support the food, lodging, transport and co-pay donations. To say we could use your support is a bit of an understatement.

We know that most of you have a true appreciation for Virginia and the University Medical Center, which is a part of the University. The Med Center is a marvel with its new Cancer Center almost completed, its infant transplant clinic which is a magnet for the vast area served, and its trauma professionals serving all comers.

Sometimes, in all this building and professional offerings, some of those being served and their families are lost in the bigness of it all. So many arrive with a cry for help to the professional medical staff, but they are also crying from hunger and a place for their closest loved one to be near them through a crisis.

This charity was formed to seek to alleviate the unmet needs which are not noticed by the average insured and able visitors to this marvelous institution. We saw this need, and literally hundreds are helped. We are not asking for others to stop and witness this lost tribe in our own midst, those who are trapped without insurance and no work. We are only asking for a contribution so that WE CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN OF HAVING TO WORRY MORE ABOUT WHERE TO STAY THE NIGHT BEFORE OR AFTER A CRITICAL APPOINTMENT OR WHAT TO EAT, AND CONCENTRATE FOR THIS SHORT STAY ON THEIR CANCER, THEIR MISCARRIAGE, THEIR CHILD’S DEATH-THREATENING DISEASE.

When a social worker calls, she or he is asking to help them with assistance to remove these extra depressing needs of hunger and shelter. We are asking for your support to allow us to reduce the pressures which can literally kill people who feel they have nowhere to turn.

Try to imagine the pain of a father’s emptiness when sitting with a small child with a suitcase in a giant hospital lobby, just hoping a social worker can arrange a room for tonight, so he doesn’t have to suffer the embarrassment of staying in a lobby or car with a child who will enter the hospital tomorrow for treatment of a critical disease. IMAGINE PLEASE… AND MAKE AN EFFORT IN THE SMALLEST WAY THIS MONTH.

We have asked periodically for your consideration for as little as $5-$10-$20 monthly as a charitable contribution for an annual tax deduction. We know the range is wide, but if we could simply encourage each of you to consider a consistent pattern, it would be so appreciated.

Thank you for hearing….Blessings… Elisheva and T. Wade

A Personal note from Rev. Elisheva Clegg

This will be a short note with a reminder of another permanent project to meet an unmet need on behalf of patients and families who are being served by the University of Virginia Medical Center. This charity is the net that is catching many of those most in need who are not served by any other source.

I’m sure you remember that emotional appeal about two weeks ago from Social Worker Teresa Bevins in the UVA Medical Center Pediatric Surgery Clinic. Teresa
stressed the need for food assistance for the parents who linger for weeks and months constantly by their babies as they await major surgery, including so many transplant procedures.

The toll on a parent who must divide their income while sleeping next to their child and also seeking to maintain a home with other children hundreds of miles from Charlottesville is simply unaffordable, and many of these parents simply go without eating because of lack of funds. Teresa made it very evident what was happening in her long e-mail which I posted as the last charity blog entry at http://www.interfaithsanctum.blogspot.com/.

The staff in pediatric surgery voiced their appreciation to Teresa, who called me about how much this support means. Then today, May 12th I received a follow-up to alert me that the staff has been monitoring the food supplies and that first delivery to cover about 3 weeks need is almost depleted. I have responded that IHS will make another food purchase tomorrow and deliver directly to the hospital on May 13th. The deal was: “Let us know when to resupply, and we will.”

Please know that we are personally allowing most couples this year to donate half of their weekend wedding fees directly to the charity for our services. They receive a tax deduction for the donation. We are limited as to how much we can personally allow from personal earnings, and I will be very open with you, that we have reached a limit. As you know, no one associated with IHS receives a salary.

Remember: $5 a month buys 5 meals; $10 a month pays for onenight in UVA Hospitality House; $50 a month allows a family with a child to stay for one night in a commercial hotel until there is room in Ronald McDonald House.

Someone asked if we have a church or a congregation, and T. Wade said, “Yes we do, but they don’t know us; they are those who come from everywhere to be served by a wonderful medical facility, and we are here to make sure they don’t go hungry, and never have to sleep in a car with their children.”

Your compassion with assistance to eliminate these situations of hunger and the stress of where to sleep is making such a difference.

Blessings…Elisheva

A Very Important Request for families of pediatric patients

A Personal note from Rev. Elisheva Clegg

On April 19th I received a very heartfelt and emotional e-mail from Teresa Bevins, social worker at UVA Medical Center. I will not seek to summarize what is so concisely written in her appeal on one detailed page. Names and detailed information is often altered for privacy purposes.

On April 23rd, T. Wade and I met with the Assistant Manager Katherine Runkle at the Barracks Road Kroger Store in Charlottesville, Virginia, who assisted us with sales items and a $10 gift card, and provided at her own expense four(4) insulated carrying bags for frozen foods and then donated half of the expense of the needed items to the charity for the pediatric ward for a 2-3 weeks supply. Teresa’s request was honored within the week, and future deliveries monthly will be determined based on need.

Whether it’s $5.00 for a few frozen meals, $10.00 for a one night stay at UVA
Hospitality House, $50.00 for a commercial hotel room, or whatever is possible for the general fund to meet all of these needs and more, your consideration for support is vital to these patients and family members.

Dear Reverend Clegg,

Thank you so much for your call on Friday. I will give
you a few case scenarios of the types of issues , families of our pediatric patients face while here at UVA.

Case 1: Adam is a 10 year old boy recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure, previously healthy, and now awaiting a heart transplant. This child cannot leave the hospital until a heart is found. His health condition is so precarious that the doctors cannot risk him being discharged at this time. He has lost a twin sibling of the same disorder several years ago. His single mother is struggling to be here and has not been able to work at her job which only pays minimum wage. They live 4 hours away from UVA and mother does not have a car. She relies on gas vouchers I donate for a friend to bring her to be with her child, but also to return home as needed for other children. She has no funds to eat and I secure a donated food box weekly from a local charity, but its contents are not enough for her to survive. She is very gracious and grateful for any food.

Case 2: Carmen is a 2 month old infant with a congenital heart problem at birth. She has never been home and her mother stays by her side and also awaits the time that her child is strong enough to go home after numerous surgeries. Mother speaks little English and father must try to continue to work so they have a home to return to. Father is struggling on low wages and little is left over to feed mother at the hospital and buy the gas he needs to travel here on weekends. Family lives 3 hours away. Mother is scared to leave her child for more than a bathroom break or shower. She also gets a food box but it does not meet all her needs. She is also very grateful for the assistance she gets.

Case 3: Johnny is a 7 year old receiving IV antibiotics for a clean out for his Cystic Fibrosis. He will be here for several weeks. He is one of 4 children in his family. Mom is divorced with no dad present, and her minimum wage job barely feeds the children at home and pays the rent. Mother has no money to eat and also relies on weekly food box from local charity and this doesn't meet her needs when she is here. She relies on extended family to care for the other children and Medicaid taxis to bring her here for the few times she is able to go home and check on the other children.

Case 4: Shania age 9. She and her family were in route to visit grandparents and were hit by another driver which resulted in her breaking a leg and arm. Her sibling sustained a head injury. Her father was injured also and is at another hospital. Mother accompanied the 2 children when they were transferred to UVA from Northern Virginia area. This family lives hundreds of miles away and has limited means. Mother is unable to afford the prices of cafeteria food and the food box she receives is not meeting her needs.

Although, we use food box donations, they are shrinking in size due to the increased numbers needing assistance in the local community. Often, parents have special dietary needs and cannot eat some of what is donated. Also, it is a 24 hour turn-around time before we can receive them and if the admission is on a Friday or the weekend we cannot order a food box until the following Monday which makes it arrive on Tuesday. These parents are struggling to survive and take care of their children. They often sleep bedside by their child and are not getting sufficient rest. Unfortunately, Ronald McDonald house stays full due to the large number of Cardiology patients we receive from all over Virginia due to the fact we are one of the few hospitals that do pediatric cardiology surgeries. We are also the trauma center for a large portion of Virginia and many patients are transferred to us from outside hospitals that cannot meet their medical needs. We in the social work department would be extremely grateful to be able to receive frozen meals for the parents/caregivers of these children so they can focus on being a support to their children. Most of the families we see are struggling financially before they have a health crisis and these crises often cause much stress for them and may lead to other issues without intervention from social work . We would like to be able to have emergency supplies of frozen or microwavable meals to provide support to these parents. If there is anything else you need from me, please do not hesitate to ask and I will gladly comply. Thank you for considering helping these families.

Sincerely…Teresa Bevins BSW, Clinical Social Worker

What we ALL do together matters. Love…US Elisheva

Things You Need to Know To Help Us Grow

The other night I returned about 10 PM from a trip to UVA Hospitality House(HH) in Charlottesville. I had received a call about 5 PM from the Manager requesting assistance with food for a visitor who was simply without funds for eating. HH had some can foods on their shelves, but little else, and the staff had gone out and personally purchased cereal and a few incidental items, but nothing substantial for three days of eating.

One doesn’t need to ask, “How does one come from such a distance with so little to stay for an unexpected duration?” When a person’s spouse is near death, that’s all that one needs to know.

On several occasions in the last months, a person will be staying in HH and we will cover lodging for many days, sometimes working with the HH manager for a negotiated rate for as much as thirty (30) days. Perhaps it is a spouse, as described above, or an outpatient for extended radiation treatment. Too often, the person will already feel that what is being provided with lodging is already generous, and they will not say that they don’t have food money.

Sometimes this situation will not be related by a patient or family member to a social worker, and only discovered later, perhaps at Hospitality House by a staff member.

We are applying again for food grants this year, and hopefully someone will read our requests and offer a boost. Meanwhile, we must continue to allow you to understand the “boots on the ground” reality which continues. One can not depend on grants; at least 80% of all financial support must come from private contributions.

Let me back up and indicate how little it takes to feed someone as described above for the three days. When lodging is available, the per night stay at HH is $10 per person. It’s not asking a lot, but when one simply has no funds to last out their time in Charlottesville, then that $10 might as well be $100. But as you can calculate, as happened above, a 5-day HH lodging stay is $50.

As for food, the request for food stated above was for only three days. I drove straight to a local food store and located the best of the frozen dinners on sale, mostly two for one sale items. I received some good directions over the last months from the Nutritionist at the UVA Cancer Center for what is the best quality, especially for outpatient cancer patients we are assisting.

I came away with nine(9) excellent meals, and a case or 24 bottles of water. The dinners average $1.57 each, and the case was an astounding sales price of $2.50, or about ten cents a bottle. Not counting tax, that was $14.13 for nine dinners for three days of eating, and enough water bottles for extra guests at Hospitality House.

In other words, one person was fed for a total of about $1.67 per meal, or
$5.01 per day, or $15.03 for three days!

Can you see how much a difference you can help me make with $10 for a room, or $5 for a day’s food for one person? Please look at these figures again. Know that I will drive that 20 miles to town every day if asked, but we cannot do it alone. We really need the assistance from private donors.

We are still the largest single contributor but it only stretches so far…

I want you to know that we began this year to offer couples who are hosting large weddings, especially in larger venues of Virginia, Maryland and in Washington, DC, an opportunity to receive a total tax deduction for an increased wedding fee. We allow for a total tax deductible donation to support this charity in lieu of our ministerial fees, but we can only do this a few times monthly in summer.

This extra giving through our own funds can only stretch so far; therefore, I wanted you to know that we are continually giving of our own funds, our own time on call every day for social staff, and we still do not take a salary from this charity.

I am only asking for each of you to consider what is possible on a consistent basis for $5-$10 monthly which is a tax deduction. I know many can afford more, but even these small donations help so much.

Perhaps this very personal description assists in bringing our constant need home, especially lodging. Keep in mind that in our first nine (9) months we have
placed 176 people into 256 overnight rooms. About half were commercial rooms at $50 average per night. March bills are coming due. Don’t forget us.

We feel so very correct about the service we are providing to the patients and families who come with such meager funds from long distances to be served at this marvelous Virginia medical center. Consider us in your giving.

Blessings…T. Wade

The Snows kept coming…as did the need…and the needs were met!

Allow me to come straight to the point. It’s cold, freezing, snowing and this is the third time in the last six weeks! Central Virginia and especially Charlottesville has been front row to each winter blast. Phones, electricity, computers have all been disrupted, and travel eliminated on several days each hit we took. However, business at the University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center was as active as ever.

The Social staff at the Medical Center were not deterred, and as needed, each one reached us within hours even with excessive disruptive communication. You will be pleased to know that every request for assistance was met with a YES WE CAN!

We really do need your help. Requests for lodging assistance was and IS very active. During January alone, this non-religious, nonprofit, no stock, public charity with no paid staff booked 42 overnight rooms, serving a total of 32 people. Now it’s time to pay, and only a few consistent contributors remembered us.

As you know by now, as important as there are individual stories to tell as to how we assisted a patient with a child far from home, or a family with children arriving to be near a dying parent, this is the limit which can be stated due to privacy considerations. In several cases the snow simply eliminated travel home to West Virginia, southern and northern Virginia. Without our quick late afternoon and evening intervention with hotel rooms when children were involved or with payments at the UVA Hospitality House for patients to await a ride home, the ability to balance the extra days for these long distance visitors to this major hospital would have been non-existent.

April 15th is just around the corner. Your donation to Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS) is tax deductable. Our tax exempt IRS letter is located as a hyperlink on the home page of the website. By PayPal or check, just keep a record of the donation and file it for the deduction.

Most of you may not think of becoming a benefactor for a charity, but a consistent monthly bequest personally or from your business could truly make this endeavor so fundamentally sound…and always allows us to say YES. Whether $10 or more…it’s the consistency which is so very important.

Love…Rev. Elisheva