1. Money is new. Last year we put on one Caregiver’s Fair and set up 1 Caring Circle at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Syosset. The Caregiver’s Fair attracted 82 people, the Caring Circle has served 160 attendees since then. To accomplish this, the Bishop’s Committee at St. Bede’s offered $5,000 in funds- the money came out of the member’s pockets.
In December, a series of Grant Applications magically bore fruit. Now we are paying back the Bishop’s Committee completely. And we can also create 5 communities which will see a Caregiver’s Fair and support a Caring Circle. And we will be able to subsidize significantly the cost of those 5 programs!!!

2. More help is new. We’ve received approval to take on 2 interns, who we will put to work searching out and preparing grant applications to fund 2012. Will this mean even more income this year?

3. More space is new. We’re creating a new office in Syosset to house those interns. Time for power-drills and paint! We need to have the room set up in 2 weeks.

3. Bigger goals is new. Perhaps 10 programs in 2012? Our long-range goal is to create a resource in every community on Long Island. That may take a while, but we’re cooking!

4. More programs and more program partners is new. We’re headed to Smithtown Monday night with a proposal to the Vestry Committee at St. Thomas of Canterbury

5 Angels are new. At a Christmas Caring Circle meeting, Karen Schief handed out little label pins – depicting an angel. Last. night, Bill confided that he’d taken the little pin home to his wife, his care-receiver, and offered it to her. She smiled and declined: “no, you are my angel, Bill!” Caregiving is very good stuff!

In April, we started the Caring Circle with 4-members. We’ve had steady growth. In October, St. Bede’s bought a bigger table to handle the additional people. Now we’ve had to schedule an afternoon session – we have16 people regularly attending.

Here’s the schedule: To end of this year, evening sessions on December 1 and 15 at 7:30pm, afternoon sessions on December 2 and 16 at 1:30pm. Starting in January, evening sessions will be scheduled the first and third Wednesdays, Jan 5 & 14, afternoon session scheduled the second and 4th Thursdays, 13 and 27.

All are welcome. Please call 516 971-0755 to let us know you’re coming.

Address is St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, 220 Barry Hill Rd., Syosset, NY 11791.

Long Island Business News | Oct. 15-21,2010

“Support for those who care for others”

Click on the image to see the article

Syosset Patch:

“St. Bede’s Cares for the Caregiver”
Church hopes to expand support group throughout Long Island…. Click Here to read the full article.