Get Involvef-Spotlight: The Care Communities
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“Your listeners are folks with a caring and compassionate heart. They want to give themselves to the needs of others. Your listeners are feeling and thinking people who are open to diversity in our great Austin community. The programs that you have on KUT and NPR give people the knowledge about issues of social justice. Many of your programs encourage your listeners to move beyond their own personal comfort zones. The Care Communities (TCC) needs volunteers who have open minds and open hearts. Our volunteers will meet persons (Care Partners) from all walks of life, with all types of serious illnesses. Our Care Partners live in many diverse and varied situations. We ask our volunteers not to make judgments about our Care Partners (for example, no asking them how they got their illness.) It seems that KUT’s service of providing knowledge and wisdom (open minds) and TCC’s service of providing practical care and compassion (open hearts) makes for a wonderful collaboration.”
Care Communities Mission Statement:
The Care Communities provide compassionate, practical and emotional support, through our care teams, for people with serious illness, especially AIDS and cancer. This support is provided by assigning Care Teams (4-8 volunteers) to a person who is ill (Care Partner). The practical support provided is housekeeping, transportation, meal preparation, child care, yard work, etc. The vision of The Care Communities is a caring community where no one will face a serious illness alone.
Major Activities and Services:
The Care Communities provide a unique service to the Austin community through the Care Team program. Our services are not medical but rather practical. There are many groups providing medical home health services such as hospices and home health agendes. We provide the day to day general services that family members or friends would provide – mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, daily check-ins, trips to the hairdresser. There is no charge for our services. The Care Partners’ quality of life is improved due to the caring community the Care Team provides. Care Partners have reported that having a Care Team has extended the length and quality of their lives. In addition, the quality of life of the volunteer is also improved. We have feedback that being on a Care Team has been a life changing experience for TCC volunteers. Our Major Service is providing Care Teams for those living with cancer and AIDS. We recruit and train volunteers to be members of Care Teams. We provide loving support for Care Teams members and grief support after a Care Team Partner dies.
Volunteer Opportunities:
For all of our potential Volunteers, we provide a 2-3 hour care team training. At our training, they learn more about our mission, vision, and the non-judgmental approach we have with all our Care Partners. Those individuals who are not interested in or able to provide this type of care to a seriously ill person tend not to join a care team.
Care Team members are strictly forbidden to proselytize to Care Partners. We draw volunteers from faith communities, businesses, community organizations and corporations. All are joined in common compassionate service. We ask Care Team members for preferences in terms of geography and sometimes diagnosis. This is used in matching Care Teams with Care Partners.
Care Team Member: Working with 4-8 other persons to provide practical support (e.g. light housekeeping, transportation, shopping, meal preparation, phone calls, outings, yard work, child care). Care Team members are asked to give four hours a month at their convenience. We work hard to establish boundaries around their time commitment, to prevent fatigue, and encourage healthy relationships with Care Partners.
TCC Board & Committee members: Program, Communications and Fund Development Committees.
Office help: bulk mailings, website updates, greet visitors, hospitality.
Contact Information:
Roger Temme( roger@thecarecommunities.org )
Outreach Coordinator
Phone: 512.459.5883
FAX: 512.459.5874
Address: P .0. Box 16529
Austin, TX 78761-6529
For More Information about The Care Communities, visit their website at www.thecarecommunities.org/.
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