#givingtuesday – a national campaign to remind us of the plenty we have, and the struggle that others experience daily. After the excess of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a day to give just a little extra out of our wallets to serve “the least of these” – in our case, our inpatient families.
Habitat for Hope serves on average 100 new families a year in the Memphis area. For many families, their first interaction with Habitat for Hope is due to a significant and emergent need for their child or family. Regularly, we are called in to provide immediate (same day) housing for a patient’s parent or grandparent. Often, we are called in to physically transport a family from a hospital to the airport or to their home or housing facility. Gas cards are a regular need, as many families are on strict fuel budgets and haven’t had the luxury of factoring in daily hospital trips. We meet families’ need for meals and food most frequently – this occurs through nonperishable items that hospital staff members can offer to parents who are admitted to the hospital in the middle of the night or early morning. When an inpatient family contacts us for help, we try in most cases to provide a hot meal or food items same-day – as a show of love and respect to their family, and a display of our care. Our goal is to “feed” our inpatient families twice weekly – sometimes, more often.
Just in the past 7 days we’ve been able to provide gas money to two moms with babies in the NICU, we’ve fed 7 families multiple times and we’ve provided emergency housing for two families that were homeless due to their children’s illnesses.
So we are asking that you would help us raise $5000 to cover these needs for 2014. Because 2013 has been a lean year financially for Habitat for Hope (but certainly not in regards to families requesting services) it is vital that we cover this important component before January 1st. We thank you in advance for your love and care for these very special families!
