There
may be a time in our lives when we need some help. It can take a lot
of courage to reach out and ask. But if and when something happens to
you, the Care Council wants to set the gears in motion to provide
what assistance we can. In order to do that, we need your help.
Have
you ever had a medical procedure that required a driver to take you
home? These can be simple things like dental work requiring an
anesthetic, or a colonoscopy, glaucoma surgery or a number of other
common surgeries. I’m wondering if you ever returned home after a
crisis, or the death of a loved one, to stand alone in the kitchen
late at night with a bowl of cold cereal. What if you’re exhausted
from caregiving, or feeling frightened and alone after losing a job,
or perhaps the loss of a beloved pet who may be your best friend? How
about those times of joy, a marriage, a birth or adoption, or a
special birthday?
We
on the Care Council are asking for your help in providing
transportation once in a while, or to make a supportive a phone call;
perhaps a casserole, or a hearty bowl of soup for someone who could
use a comforting meal. The heartwarming joy of receiving a card or an
email that simply says, “I’m thinking about you because I care,”
is boundless and enduring.
Please
join us in our mission of caring for each other by contacting one of
the Congregational Care Council members, Anne Laukaitis, Nancy DeLux,
or Michelle Murphy. Sign-up sheets are also available on the back
counter.
Thank
you for being a part of our caring community!
and I would like to share how much this means to me, not just as a member of the Care Team, but as the recipient of care from this incredible team...and the ongoing care day by day. As many of you know, Tad Krauss, my very good friend and housemate, went up to Duke Medical Center in early January for a stem cell transplant. While he was gone I was faced with what felt like the insurmountable task of not only getting his room cleaned out, cleaned and re-cleaned, but the rest of the common areas of the house as well! I was ready to run away from home!!! The task seemed overwhelming. It got better after church the Sunday before he left for Duke, when two members of the Care Team (Nancy DeLux and Ann Laukatis) said the Team wanted to help and we set a date/time for them stop by and see what they could do. Then my good friend and fellow PUUCer, Ilene Fagen, came over to help me that first night he was gone, helping me box up Tad's books, papers, stamp collections and such. I still felt overwhelmed, but not as much. Then Wednesday morning Nancy DeLux and Michelle Murphy showed up, we talked and then they started taking down shelves, blinds and such while I worked on the floor! I was blown away...and no longer felt like running away from home, not leaving a forwarding address. Then came the Saturday morning when 15, count them, 15, people showed up at my house with cleaning supplies, carpet steam cleaner, ladders and trucks and took over the huge task of getting everything in order. Karl Hesse had rented a climate-controlled storage unit for Tad's stuff and he and several other people load all of it into assorted trucks, vans and cars and took it to the unit. It felt unreal to have a living room I didn't have to thread a path through. And clean? When the crew of women finished with Tad's room and the bathroom they asked if they could do my kitchen. I almost sat down in the middle of the room and cried, from amazement, gratitude and, I must admit, bewilderment that it was all happening and all I had done was say I would love to have some help. And help was there...and still is as Tad gets stronger and is now able to have some of his things brought home out of storage.
ReplyDeleteso...now you have my testimony that this team of Caring Folks, the Pastoral Care Team, is so very wonderful...and all you have to do is say I need some help. Heck, you don't even have to say it...it will just plain happen as soon as someone knows you might need it. Give it a try, you might find you like being so deeply cared about...and for.
Connie Byrne
funkyknitter and Garden Lover
Unitarian Universalist and Serina's Grandmother