Late in July, my twenty-two year old nephew was informed he had a brain tumor twice the size of a golf ball, requiring immediate surgery. As Lotsa’s CEO, I found myself once again as a first-hand witness to how Lotsa Helping Hands can have a profound effect not only on the family caregivers and the patient, but also on the community of volunteers and supporters that rally behind them.
At Lotsa Helping Hands we are truly privileged to witness the best the human soul has to offer. Reading the unsolicited testimonials sent in by many of our 1.2 million community members is both an honor as well as a constant reminder of the humbling responsibility we all have to assist those in need. While so many express their gratitude for the free service we provide, there is an underlying theme in each unique story of how family, friends, and neighbors came together to aid in caring for the caregiver. But what about those other tens of millions of caregivers who feel isolated, often desperate as they struggle daily with the emotional, physical, and financial hardships confronting them? Too often a community member who has helped someone will conclude their testimonial with a comment to the effect “I only wish I’d known about this service years ago when I was caring for my ______.”
Caregiving – and the challenges faced by caregivers – is now so widely recognized that it’s easy to forget that only 5-10 years ago the biggest challenge for those of us in the industry advocating for help was how to get caregivers to simply self-identify. People viewed their caregiving challenges in terms of their responsibility as a spouse, sibling, parent, or friend. Rarely as a member of a very large club consisting of 65 million other members!
Like many kids, I grew up thinking my parents were the smartest people on the planet. They seemed to know everything. In a world often confusing to a child, they had all the answers and could calm my worries with measured assurance. Now that I am an adult, there have been few problems in my life that I haven’t shared with my mother and father My entire life I have watched as one elderly family member after another relied on my parents for their caregiving support line. And they maintained remarkably good health, even after both became octogenarians in recent years. But with age comes a very valid question with regard to health: what does Medicare pay for?
Contributed by Hal Chapel, CEO and Co-Founder of Lotsa Helping Hands
As family and friends of the victims of the Aurora tragedy began their unbearable journey dealing with the impossible suddenly becoming reality, the rest of the country looked on with horror, sadness, and anger. We were all unexpectedly united, simply as human beings distraught, appalled, and without answers to so many questions such shock evokes. Many of us wanted desperately to do something, anything, to help those immediately affected by this terror, to let them know they were not alone. But of course, what could we really do?
Contributed by Hal Chapel, CEO and Co-Founder of Lotsa Helping Hands
There is so much written in today’s media about the stress felt by teenagers preparing for college, it almost seems as if there’s no escaping the self-absorption that famously plagues adolescence.
Yet we are witnessing in our time perhaps the greatest numbers of youth volunteering in their communities. The cynics among us may claim this pull to community service is fueled solely by a desire to pad resumes for college applications. But others might argue that the significant increase in business school students focusing on nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship is a testament to the on-going interest in serving and giving back to our communities.
Hal Chapel, CEO and Co-Founder of Lotsa Helping Hands
This Independence Day week, we are reminded that freedom does not come without sacrifice. So many people before us – citizens of the early American colonies, national leaders, and family ancestors – have all made sacrifices for our freedom. But freedom is not static. Most freedoms we value require constant attention. Even our own personal independence demands we shoulder responsibility – financially, at work, at home, or in our community. Military families, especially, need our help to retain their own independence.
Contributed by Hal Chapel, CEO and Co-Founder of Lotsa Helping Hands
Community. A word that evokes many different images.
Not only are we social creatures, requiring interaction with other people, but historically our species has ultimately survived and thrived by banding together into social groups we call ‘community’. Community has not only provided protection in collective defense, but in the division and sharing of labor and resources. But perhaps community has been most significant in offering us fundamental meaning in life. At the end of the day, do we really judge the value of our lives by how much money we make or how many things we collect, or how much fame we achieve? Don’t we feel most satisfied when we know we have truly affected another person positively, when we have contributed to our own communities?
Contributed by Hal Chapel, CEO and Co-Founder of Lotsa Helping Hands
At Lotsa Helping Hands, we are committed to shedding light on the needs of caregivers across our country. At some point in our lives, most of us will become caregivers. But the truth is, most of those who care for a loved one do not even consider themselves caregivers.