year-end letter - 2013

5
At this Ɵme of year, I come to you for your yearend giŌ to Community 360°. Over the past 12 months we have made great strides in producing high quality training materials and highly trained volunteers who are a true asset to the people who live and work in nursing homes. I would venture to guess that few people wake up in the morning thinking about the day when they will need a nursing home. Yet, it is a very real and likely possibility for millions of Americans. It’s dicult to understand the pain of loneliness. Mother Teresa upon a visit to the United States toured a nursing home. Her reacƟon sums up the issue we, at Community 360° are confronƟng: “I have found a poverty more painful than hunger, it is the poverty of being unwanted.” Feeling unwanted is painful and leads to behaviors and depression which only increases the workload of an already overworked care sta. With few excepƟons, nursing homes are underfunded, understaed, and the workers undertrained. Over the next 20 years the situaƟon will only grow worse. This is where Community 360° can help meet the need for taking care of our elderly. Producing highly trained and skilled volunteers to work sidebyside professional care stais our mission. We know that our stateoftheart training programs work. We’ve seen the results. There are people, successful midcareer professionals looking for a way to give back to the community. There are people, families looking for meaningful acƟviƟes that engage the family as a unit. There are young people who may never have been lucky enough to have had a relaƟonship with a grandmother or an older adult role model. They want to make that connecƟon. In short, we are aƩracƟng highly commiƩed, highly moƟvated and passionate people who want to “be there” for the people living in nursing homes. The people living in nursing homes feel that authenƟc uncondiƟonal love and respond in kind. BeauƟful and loving relaƟonships are formed. Behaviors and depression evaporate. Those relaƟonships become the life blood of that elder living in a nursing home. When you give to Community 360°, you are giving to a local organizaƟon, accountable to the community for it’s work. You can see it in acƟon, right in your backyard. To strengthen my appeal to you, I’ve asked people associated with Community 360° to share their reasons for supporƟng Community 360°. Heather Holmes is a professional care staat Good Samaritan Society, John Rogers (“J.R.”) started as a volunteer and is now a member of our board, Julie Kaminski is the ExecuƟve Director of LeadingAge Nebraska, and nally Ed Joseph is our development ocer. Please take a few moments to read their heartfelt reasons for supporƟng Community 360° and please consider a very generous yearend giŌ. We need your support. The need is criƟcal and growing, we need your support to make 2014 an even greater year. May God bless you richly in the coming year! Paul Falkowski, Ph.D. ExecuƟve Director

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This is Community 360º year-end letter. More than ever nursing homes need trained volunteers to help provide care to their residents. Community 360º does this. We rely solely on the generosity of good people.

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Page 1: Year-End Letter - 2013

At this me of year, I come

to you for your year‐end gi to Community 360°. Over the past 12 months we have made great strides in producing high quality training materials and highly trained volunteers who are a true asset to the people who live

and work in nursing homes.

I would venture to guess that few people wake up in the morning thinking about the day when they will need a nursing home. Yet, it is a very real and likely possibility for millions of Americans. It’s difficult to understand the pain of loneliness. Mother Teresa upon a visit to the United States toured a nursing home. Her reac on sums up the issue we, at Community 360° are confron ng: “I have found a poverty more painful than hunger, it is the poverty of being unwanted.” Feeling unwanted is painful and leads to behaviors and depression which only increases the workload of an already overworked care staff.

With few excep ons, nursing homes are underfund‐ed, understaffed, and the workers under‐trained. Over the next 20 years the situa on will only grow worse. This is where Community 360° can help meet the need for taking care of our elderly. Producing highly trained and skilled volunteers to work side‐by‐side professional care staff is our mission. We know that our state‐of‐the‐art training programs work. We’ve seen the results. There are people, success‐ful mid‐career professionals looking for a way to give back to the community. There are people, families looking for meaningful ac vi es that engage the family as a

unit. There are young people who may never have been lucky enough to have had a rela onship with a grandmother or an older adult role model. They want to make that connec on.

In short, we are a rac ng highly commi ed, highly mo vated and passionate people who want to “be there” for the people living in nursing homes. The people living in nursing homes feel that authen c uncondi onal love and respond in kind. Beau ful and loving rela onships are formed. Behaviors and depression evaporate.

Those rela onships become the life blood of that elder living in a nursing home. When you give to Community 360°, you are giving to a local organiza on, accountable to the community for it’s work. You can see it in ac on, right in your backyard.

To strengthen my appeal to you, I’ve asked people associated with Community 360° to share their reasons for suppor ng Community 360°. Heather Holmes is a profes‐sional care staff at Good Samaritan Society, John Rogers (“J.R.”) started as a volunteer and is now a member of our board, Julie Kaminski is the Execu ve Director of LeadingAge Nebraska, and finally Ed Joseph is our develop‐ment officer.

Please take a few moments to read their heart‐felt reasons for suppor ng Community 360° and please consider a very generous year‐end gi . We need your support. The need is cri cal and growing, we need your support to make 2014 an even greater year.

May God bless you richly in the coming year!

Paul Falkowski, Ph.D. Execu ve Director

Page 2: Year-End Letter - 2013

I support and volunteer for Community 360° because I've seen how

effec ve they are in improving the quality of life for so many residents of nursing homes and care centers. Beyond their main mission of training skilled volunteers to be very helpful in short‐staffed care facili es, Community 360°'s "Christmas in Our Hearts" show and Valen ne’s Day card distribu‐

on puts big smiles on wrinkled faces that then light up the room. They care enough to be there, day a er day, li ing up the least of us, and they do it on a skinny shoestring budget. That's why I support Community 360° and why I hope you will, too. Thank you,

John Rogers

Julie Kaminski, Execu ve Director

LeadingAge Nebraska

Community 360° is a

fantas c & rewarding

organiza on that truly

advocates for the seniors in our

community. They know loneliness

is a problem, that can lead to so

many other issues and Community

360° is ac vely matching

volunteers with seniors to help

eradicate loneliness in area

nursing homes.

I am proud to help on the

Board of Directors and financially

support this viable organiza on.

Julie Kaminski

John (“J.R.”) Rogers

Midwest Sound and Ligh ng

50%

of nursing home residents

never receive a visitor from

anyone.

2X’s Nursing home residents

who do not get visitors are

twice as likely to die in the

same period as those that

do.

71% of the people, within three

months of being admi ed to a nursing home are on 3 to 4 an psycho c medica ons having had no prior diagnosis that would require the use of these

drugs.

Page 3: Year-End Letter - 2013

Heather Holmes, MPA CTRS CDP Director of Recrea onal Therapy Good Samaritan Society—Millard

My passion is long term care

and working with aging

individuals. Spending each day

learning, understanding, and

assis ng to create purpose in an

individual’s life, o en mes when

they are at the end of their

journey in this life, is remarkable.

Volunteers are the key to

my program’s success and

comba ng loneliness in long term

care. There are many rules,

regula ons and restric ons that

team members working in a long

term care se ng must adhere to,

that in addi on to paperwork,

o en leaves minimal me for

rela onship building.

Having volunteers who

have been educated by

Community 360° is a gi to any

professional working in long term

care. The volunteer has a deep

understanding of the aging

process and culture of long term

care from their training.

Community 360° volunteers are

ready to hit the ground running

and serve the community.

Volunteers are able to take

the me to build rela onships and

be present with an individual. So

o en, what an aging individual in

a long term care se ng needs is

the presence of another person,

nothing grand.

As humans we are

communal and not meant to be

alone. Focused, one‐to‐one me

shared with another person is the

greatest gi one human can give

to another. The rela on‐

ship between

Community 360° and

Good Samaritan Society‐

Millard has supported

volunteers in our long

term care community and truly

made an impact in the lives of our

members, staff and visitors.

I am ecsta c to have a

rela onship with Community 360°

and am honored to witness the

terrific volunteer work happening

each day in communi es across

the Omaha Metro area. This

organiza on puts every dollar

donated back into the training and

care of the aging in our

community. Any dona on made

to Community 360° will assure

that the organiza on can con nue

to train high quality volunteers

and therefore impact aging

individual lives by comba ng

loneliness, isola on and

depression.

Please support Community 360°

Heather Holmes

“Volunteers are the key to my

program’s success and

comba ng loneliness in long

term care.”

“Having

volunteers who

have been

educated by

Community 360°

is a gi to any

professional

working in long

term care.”

“Community 360° develops and uses state‐of‐the‐art training material to produce highly mo vated and highly commi ed volunteers who become a true asset to the professional care staff.”

Page 4: Year-End Letter - 2013

Ed Joseph Development Officer

Community 360°

I want to thank the following

companies and organiza ons for all their support in making 2013 such a successful year:

Without their generous help and contribu ons, 2013 would not have been the

successful year it was.

We par cipated in several new projects, including Omaha Gives through the Omaha

Community Founda on and Red Basket through Woodmen of the World Life Insurance.

We have a racted new donors, new businesses and are looking at con nued growth in both of these areas for 2014.

2014 should be an exci ng year for Community 360°, and whether or not you have donated, please do so before the year is up.

Your generous year‐end dona on will assure people in nursing homes con nue to receive Community 360° volunteers who are well trained and compassionate.

In closing, a few of our

donors have included us in their estate planning, and if you haven’t

already done so, please consider us when planning your estate.

Thank you for all your past and future support, and wishing you and your family Happy

Holidays and a Happy New Year.

Edward Joseph

A Final Thought...

Ten thousand people, the Baby Boomers, re re

every day. That will con nue un l the year 2030.

Star ng in the year, 2030, ten thousand people,

Baby Boomers, will begin turning 85 years of age, the age at which the odds of needing a nursing home jump to 1 out of every 2.

Seeing that Community 360° con nues its mission of

recrui ng and training volunteers for nursing homes will go a very long way to making sure that there is someone there for you.

More than half of all

nursing home residents never, never, receive a visit from anyone.

They die prematurely, not from old age but from a heart broken by loneliness and hopelessness.

Your year‐end gi can help us change those sta s cs.

Help us by giving

generously this year, and

Thank you!

3X’s Every gi is gratefully received

and receipted.

Every dollar you give is mul plied in services provided to nursing homes.

We rely on the generous support of people like you, who know how

important the services Community 360° provides.

Please be generous this year!

God Bless!

Newsle er design by Erin Endress,

Baird Holm LLP & Community 360°

board member.

BBG Ar stry

Ed’s Rexall Drug

Good Samaritan Society—Omaha

Hillcrest Health Systems

Hy‐Vee Supermarket #10 (156th and Maple)

Jones Automo ve

Omaha Community Founda on

Omaha Storm Chasers

Physicians Mutual

Russ Kaplan Investments

Thanksgiving Lutheran

The Ve er Founda on

The Salva on Army Kroc Center

Union Pacific Railroad

Page 5: Year-End Letter - 2013

P.O. Box 3301 Omaha, NE 68103