I am fundraising in a different way - I am hoperaising

While operating a small charity to help families impacted with cancer is such a great thing, the big barrier I have is there are a ton of people in and out of treatment who need financial assistance with various things and there is not enough money to go around. For each patient or family nomination that comes through the door, I'd like to resolve their woes by having enough funds to completely resolve their situation rather than minimize the assistance we give because of funding. But that is a huge mountain to climb and it's most likely one I will never see to the top.

With a gazillion ideas that run through my head everyday, here is one that stuck and I'm hoping you will want to join me. I was having a conversation with my Mom last year about this time - more towards the end of October.

And I said, "you know mom I have been thinking - wouldn't it be cool if around the winter holidays we could get people to help decorate the homes of people who are really devastated by cancer. It takes so much out of people, fighting for their life that decorating for the holidays is probably the last thing on their mind, but if someone came into the home and decorated for them it could really uplift their spirit."

My Mom's reply was, "That is actually interesting you bring that up - the winter your Dad was sick, the church got us a tree from the local tree farm and brought it to the house, set it up, and decorated it for us. It was just that one thing that helped lift our spirit up - not only the decoration, but the incredible feeling of people wanting to do things for us during that time. It also allowed us to have a real Christmas with presents under the tree - that was nice since you guys were so little."

So this puts me in a certain train of thought - since funds seem to be a bit of a barrier sometimes when helping folks, what is a way HCM can help families impacted by cancer without needing money??? It may sound like a dumb question, but the answer is caps lock OBVIOUS. In talking with many of the social workers at Fox Chase Cancer Center there is such a great need for daily tasks that patients and their families encounter while battling cancer. Thing such as house cleaning, yard work, landscaping, shoveling snow (clearing the sidewalk/driveway), laundry, cooking meals, and any other essential effort that goes into being a homeowner, and of course we can throw in holiday decorating.

So this is what we are going to do - create a program within HCM that makes this happen and I want people to become a part of it. The way the process will work is HCM will build an ongoing database of volunteers who are willing to help families with such instances mentioned above. As daily task support nominations come in from our network of local social workers, we will email blast the volunteer list with a description of the help that is needed, how often the service may be needed, the demographics of the person/family, and their location. The first volunteer(s) who respond will be matched with that family. You will be able to have direct contact with the family in order to schedule a time, or HCM will arrange it for you.

I want to make more impact within our community, I want to bring people together, I want to build sustainable relationships between people. I'd like to call this program a hoperaiser (building and sustaining hope) and there are many options that will not only allow you to directly see the impact you are making, but it will enrich your life in more ways than you can even think.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with what is really our next grass roots initiative, please contact us by email - hcmfund@gmail.com, phone (484) 347-3993, or comment on my blog. The information we will need from you:

Name
Email
Phone
City you live
Zip code

The city and zip will give us an idea for when the nomination form comes through if we have volunteers in that area. We would like volunteers from the greater Philadelphia area, Lehigh Valley, Delaware, and New Jersey.

I want to get as many people behind this as I can because it can bring SO MUCH IMPACT! Here is a little thing I wrote to our HCM Team about a month ago and I believe it goes very well with the theme of this post and uprising initiative:

More often than not, after each family we help, I sit and ponder for hours and sometimes days. I put myself in their situations, some of which I've already lived for myself and some of them I can only try to put myself in their shoes. If it hasn't already, imagine cancer seemingly touching every aspect of your life - mentally, physically, financially, and socially.

The money the HCM Team raises together is so very important for these individuals and their families, or shall we call them our neighbors and eventually our friends. Or maybe we just go with calling them our friends right off the bat. The many people we help do not have people behind them to fall back on. The very hard truth I have come to realize is that money does only go so far. We don't have the money to save the home for this family. We don't have enough money to bring Frank, who passed away from leukemia a couple of months ago, back to life. We don't have enough money (there is no amount of money) to make a woman who can't afford breast reconstruction surgery feel like a woman again. But the courage, drive, and understanding we all have to help us find a reason within ourselves to help folks in our community who are impacted by cancer is something that will linger in the air for a very long time. A very long time. It is something that we can feel - it is something they can feel. The power of a network devoted to helping others will help give an uplifting spirit for a mother of two - help her have confidence she will be ok and be able to raise her kids while battling to get better post surgery. It will not bring Frank back to life, but when his wife is sitting alone in the hospital by herself, it gives her positive comfort to know someone has cared enough to help them. It can make a woman needing reconstruction surgery feel loved and appreciated for the wonderful person she is and will continue to be.

Please connect with me and join this effort and try to touch at least one family within the next year. Thank you so much for reading!

For folks reading this who are new to HCM Foundation, please check out our website: http://hcmfoundation.org/