Welcome to Lotsa Community Works

Featured this month:

• Promise to Help a Caregiver
• Learn more about Lotsa
• Check out New Blog Topics for Caregivers

If you are welcoming us in your inbox this month, chances are you have been part of a Lotsa community. Whether you created a community to help a friend or loved one, volunteered to bring a meal to a friend or were the recipient of a community’s help, we thank you. November is the month dedicated to calling attention to and celebrating the more than 90 million family caregivers who selflessly take on the responsibilities and challenges of caring for aging loved ones and those with chronic disease or disability. While celebrating Thanksgiving this week, our Lotsa family wants to thank our network of caregivers and volunteers that has grown to more than 1.5 million strong. We are grateful for the countless meals, rides, well wishes and general support as well as your testimonials and personal stories that have been offered this year. Among the stories is a common theme – caregivers need help. Help is exactly what Lotsa Helping Hands communities provide. Can you imagine a world where everyone can give and receive help through the power of community? We do and that’s why we are asking people across the country to make a promise to #HelpACaregiver this November. Please join us and make a promise to help a caregiver.

From our community to yours,

Hal Chapel, CEO

Connect With Us!

Promise to #HelpACaregiver

We invite our 50 nonprofit partners, new supportive organizations, caregiver supporters, and our members far and wide to take the time to make a promise to #HelpACaregiver and share it with their networks. Promises may include providing meals, delivering medications, organizing rides to appointments, and any other tasks that will #HelpACaregiver. After you post your promise, share this message on our Facebook Page and we will enter your name in a raffle for an Amazon gift card. Below is an example:

It is National Family Caregivers Month and I posted a promise to #HelpACaregiver. I am going to (Insert Promise Here).

Lotsa Tips

We’re sharing tips for Members and Coordinators who are coming together to organize help in Communities this fall.

Tip 1 — Create a Custom Section Whether it’s to post dietary restrictions for family members, notes on what to expect as a volunteer or a personal blog, Custom Sections are a quick and easy way to customize your Community to meet it’s unique needs. Visit the ‘Administration’ tab and click on ‘Add a Custom Section’ from the ‘Community’ column on the right. You can choose if you’d prefer it to be a gallery, button or general section, then give it a title and description, customize your permissions, and start sharing!

Tip 2 — Organize Groups in your Community Consider organizing Members of your Community into Groups with various levels of permission for driving privileges, child care and more. Individual Members and/or Groups of Members may be granted different permissions for viewing and signing up for specific Activities, as well as permissions for viewing and posting to various Community Sections. For example, you can now segment a particular group of known drivers to provide rides to medical appointments.

Tip 3 — Get Started with an Open Community If you are organizing events in your neighborhood or want to volunteer in your local community, an Open Community can help. Open Communities at Lotsa often help more than one family and the members of the Community may or may not all know the people being helped. Head over to our website where you can search for Open Communities in your local town or neighborhood. All you need is a zip code or city and state. If you don’t find one today, consider creating one in your town or check back soon as new Communities are being started every day.

Need to know more about using Lotsa? Send us an email. We’re here to help – support@lotsahelpinghands.com

Our Blog is New

We have many new topics available on our blog.

The Baby Boomers Generation is Everywhere

How to Care for a Loved One from a Distance

Planning Meals for Sick Friends

What to Say After Surgery – Providing Support for your Friend

9 Hospital Care Package Ideas That Will Make Anyone Feel Better

Watch this Webinar with the Alzheimer’s Association

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Caregiver Month. In the United States, there are more than 15 million Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers. If you have not watched our webinar, take a look. You will learn about the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease and hear from a caregiver who takes care of her husband.

Click here to watch the Webinar.