Just Sharing ....

I thought that you might like to know how we learn of lodging needs for the least able who must come to UVA Medical Center for treatment and diagnostic appointments. All requests must come from a UVA Social Worker assigned to each patient's case. This is not news to those who have assisted us for years, but it never hurts to repeat som e examples of requests just in case you forward this note to a friend or colleague to join this charity  in support of indigent patients and their caregivers.     January 2018:   In the last 4-5 weeks IHS received 7  requests for lodging assistance.  One request required reservation in a commercial hotel, since the patient was to be accompanied by a spouse and small child. There is no accommodation for children under 18 years of age in the UVA Hospitality House; however, due  to extreme weather, the couple had to postpone the trip from southern Virginia. A commercial room was booked and canceled, but the hotel did not charge the charity, since the patient did not use the room.     Two requests w ere for cancer patients. Neither patient is identified nor their Medical Record Number provided herein or on the Social Worker e-mail request. Both requests below were honored, as were the other single night requests from other Social workers.     Patient #1:  "I have a newly diagnosed advance cancer patient who needs to be here for 6 weeks of XRT. She lives 4 hours away. She had to quit her job and has applied for disability, but will not hear back for months. She has no other source of income and is no longer married.  Her daughter-in-law is coming with her to help out. They have been able to get some money together for gas and food, but lodging funds are hard for them. Social Worker FH still needs to meet them, but she is starting tomorrow, so I wondered if you would be willing to pay for the following nights:  (3 nights this week; 3 nights next week; and 1 night the next week).  So it would come to $ ____.  Could you let me know today? Thank you!!!!!!"    Patient #2:  "Would IHS be willing to cover t h e stay of a patient and her caregiver? The patient had missed several appointments over the course of the last few weeks due to unreliable transportation. She lives nearly 100 miles away. It is very important that she finishes her cancer treatment.  She was able to make it here on Wednesday and her radiation team has adjusted her schedule so that she can finish sooner than originally expected. She will go home Tuesday. Her treatment requires mild anesthesia so she must have a support person with her. She has been unable to work during her cancer treatment.  Could IHS pay for two people for 6 nights for a total of $ ____? Thank you for your consideration."   Click Here to Support us this Valentine's Day Remember ... IHS re-stocks the Social Work Office food cabinet in the Social Work Office on the main floor of the main hospital, based on a call and e-mail request by the Social Worker assigned to monitor the full-day meal packets. IHS re-stocks the kitchen supplies at UVA Hospitality House (HH) upon receipt of a list of needs via e-mail from the HH Supervisor. In general both activities occur every three weeks, and usually within 48 hours of the requests.    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.       Your thoughtful consideration of our efforts is so appreciated.    Sincerely ... T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn IHS Founding Members

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..

A Quick Reminder ....

Perhaps you noticed on TV or plastered on storefronts: Happy New Year!!!!   Yes ... You still have time to consider a donation dated prior to January 1, 2018 when tabulating your taxes, thus taking advantage of charitable giving.   Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS) appreciates your attention. There is indeed so much good involved by supporting this all-volunteer public charity whose total devotion is to offer immediate temporary funding assistance for lodging, food, prescription co-pays, etc.   Thank you for considering a truly worthy action.   Contact information: Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS)  P.O. Box 163  Palmyra, VA 22963  Email: ihsanctum@gmail.com 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.       Much love, T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn and the friends who keep our efforts active.

YOU are the answer to this question : "How does this charity let others know how it is serving the University of Virginia Medical Center?"

When you share this e-mail with a friend, a fellow worker, a church member, and emphasize that the 6 minute promotional video on the IHS home page is the most informative tool we have ... then your extra effort allows us to add another friend in order to sustain our participation for the least able to afford their trip to Charlottesville.   For 9 years this charity has maintained an open communication with UVA Social Workers in order to catch that segment of long-distance patients who arrive without adequate funds to sustain their immediate critical needs. For the grossly underfunded patients and perhaps a caregiver, their unexpected need to be at UVA Medical Center without adequate means is often a frightening challenge. IHS was originated to seek to ease the burden on the least able among us. IHS is a non-profit, totally volunteer effort, highly dependent on private donations.   Please allow me to repeat how disconcerting and depressing the experience of arriving at the state's premier hospital, sometimes hundreds of miles from home, arriving late at night without funds for eating or a place to sleep. THIS charity is that 24/7 contact through the Office of Social Workers to assist with last minute unprepared patients.   This rather short reminder of how YOU can extend a hand for future arrivals is so needed. Reach out to your friends by forwarding this e-mail and allow them to review the IHS website.   Encourage your contacts to e-mail and ask what they can do to secure this needed charity.   Contact information: Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS)  P.O. Box 163  Palmyra, VA 22963  Email: ihsanctum@gmail.com 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.       T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn Founding Members IHS

The Special Cabinet

Every day of every year UVA Medical Center Social Workers go to a special cabinet in the far corner of their large office in the main hospital where full-day meal packets are stored.  The cabinet holds about one hundred meal packets, and is restocked every 2-3 weeks. From 2,400 - 3,000 packets will have been placed into that special cabinet by this year's end.  And then ... the cycle will start again. Most fairy tales have a special closet or chest or cabinet which houses an important item. This is not a tale of magic. This special cabinet is the only food for a day for several thousand caregivers, family members and out-patients who simply do not have funds to eat in the hospital café or elsewhere while providing support for long distance travelers. There is something magical in this process which must not be ignored! Dozens of groups, including churches in Albemarle, Fluvanna and Louisa counties; school clubs; scout troops; kindergartens, etc. purchase and make the meal packets over the course of a year.  That's hundreds of individual partners participating annually to make sure that IHS meets its monthly objective to keep the cabinet fully stocked. Many churches will ask if the charity needs meal packets or funds to support other important categories, such as lodging funds, prescription funds, and infant car seats for underfunded parents to be able to get that new baby home. Flexibility with support over the years has been so important. Consistent Support is  so important as we look toward 2018. For the last two years two churches have devoted themselves to meal packet objectives and set the objectives for others to consider. The Grace and Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra has faithfully made the second Sunday of every month as "meal-making Sunday."  A church group makes 70 meal packets monthly. That's 840 meal packets annually. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church (TJMC) UU in Charlottesville  selects two months of the year and makes 400+ meal packets annually.  That's a total from just these two churches of 1,240 meal packets toward present annual need of 2,400 - 3,000 meal packets annually.  Several other churches such as Effort Baptist and First Methodist in Fluvanna County have donated several thousand dollars over the year and allowed for use to meet all categories. Please consider a discussion with your church, club, clinic, business, etc. for adding IHS to their giving this year. If we can enthuse another dozen consistent devotees to set aside just 1-2 months each year for meal-making, that special cabinet in the UVA Hospital will bring so much added joy to the Social Workers at UVA Hospital, as they continue to surprise thousands with that unexpected food packet.  Talk to your group  and contact us at ihsanctum@gmail.com 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.      Sincerely ...  Thomas Wade Clegg III and Sam McLawhorn

An Opportunity Worth Relating to You ... and for Your Further Sharing

As a friend of this charity, you are well aware of our consistent production of full-day meal packets provided monthly to the UVA Social Work Office for underfunded outpatients and caregivers.  The meals, along with lodging assistance for the least able who arrive with inadequate funds to sustain their visit for an appointment or multiple treatments, are the main categories of support for which IHS is known.  However, there are other important support areas for which our support has made an immediate impact for a patient. It is important to share the following, even though this recent case must be related in a less specific manner for purposes of privacy.  It is prominent that friends of the charity understand the full range of actions that IHS makes with your donations. I think you will be pleased to learn of our efforts. E-mail Request to IHS from UVA Clinical Social Worker in 2017: "My immediate supervisor suggested that I reach out to you to ask whether IHS might consider partial funding support for a prosthetic leg for a UVA patient.  This patient has worked throughout their adult life on an old prosthetic leg, which now no longer fits and is not usable for work. The patient is not able to return to work until obtaining a new leg. Once that objective is met, then the patient will be expected to return to work immediately. After UVA financial assistance is applied to total cost of the leg ($10,000+), the patient is responsible for coming up with $2,042 (20% of the total cost). Prosthetics and orthotics reports that the patient will be able to get this limb with 50% of patient responsibility down payment ($1,021) and could bill for the remaining 50% once the patient returns to work. We are attempting to help the patient get funds needed to get the leg,  so that the patient can get back to work and then pay the rest personally. This patient has raised  $572 from family and friends. $449  is still needed.  Would IHS be able to help out with any part of this remaining balance?  I realize this unmet need may be out of the scope of IHS, but I wanted to check, as I am exhausting every resource I can think of to help this patient. Thanks so much for taking time to consider." IHS Response same day to this request: " Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS) will complete the balance as requested, namely $449. Please e-mail an invoice from the party who is to be paid. This should not be directly from the patient. Your quickest response appreciated. I need the provider of the prosthetic with details for making payment on behalf of the patient. The patient need only know that a  friend of the hospital is assisting. Thank you for allowing us to assist.  Sincerely ...  T. Wade Clegg III, IHS, P.O. Box 163, Palmyra, VA 22963." 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.      Sincerely ...  Thomas Wade Clegg III and Sam McLawhorn

A Special Night for Several Fluvanna Charities

A Note from Rudy Garcia, District Giving Chair, Rotary Club of Fluvanna County IHS received an e-mail on May 31, 2017 from Mr. Garcia, immediate Past President Rotary Club Fluvanna County 2014-2016. IHS was one of several Fluvanna charities to receive the notice. "Hello Friends and Congratulations! The Rotary Foundation of Fluvanna County met in March and approved a monetary grant for each of your organizations. We would like you to be our guest at a special meeting where we will present you with your grant check and give you an opportunity to talk about your organization. The Foundation Grant Award presentation will be June 20th at 6 PM at our Club meeting, at Lake Monticello Firehouse at 10 Slice Road, Palmyra, Virginia 22963.  Kind regards... Rudy" 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.      T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn                                                      IHS Founding Officers

Special thanks again to J & E Berkley Foundation of Crozet, Virginia

Special thanks again to J & E Berkley Foundation of Crozet, Virginia On May 2 at a meeting of the Foundation, Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS) was considered for a Spring Grant to assist with immediate support of the charity's Lodging Program for underfunded long distance out-patients and caregivers.   In addition, the Grant can also be used to support this charity's emergency prescription program  and pediatric support program for purchase of infant car seats for parents in need of that vital safety item who simply find themselves without funds at time of release from UVA Hospital. The Spring Grant from J & E Berkley Foundation of Crozet, Virginia in 2017 is $6,000.00.  IHS is so appreciative of the consistent consideration annually by the Foundation and its Executive Director, Chris Pasmore. 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.       T. Wade Clegg III & Sam McLawhorn                                       IHS Founding Officers