Today is #Giving Tuesday, Please give to the charity of your choice
by Richard Kuehn on 12/02/14
Today is #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. Charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world are coming together today for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more. Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Join us and be a part of a global celebration of a new tradition of generosity. Please give to Hands to Help Seniors and any other non-profit that strikes your fancy.
I want to give you an update about our great company. We are proud to have raised over $40,000 so far this year and we have no paid employees so almost all of our funds go directly to senior citizens in need. We are participating this year in the Monterey Peninsula Foundation's Charity Match (formerly known as Birdies For Charity) fundraiser. It's a great way to get more bang for your charitable buck as they are doing matching donations. To support us, you can click here:
https://events.r2it.com/birdies/DefaultPage/CharityMatch/Default.aspx?site=MontereyPeninsulaFoundation&siteId=79 or mail a check (payable to the Monterey Peninsula Foundation) to:
Hands to Help Seniors Charity Match
c/o Monterey Peninsula Foundation
1 Lower Ragsdale Drive, Building 3, Suite 100
Monterey, CA 93940
For some background, Richard Kuehn founded Family inHome Caregiving, which is a private duty caregiving company in Carmel with over 50 employees, approximately five years ago. He was inspired to do this after being frustrated by the quality of care he had seen from other companies. He rescued his grandmother, then 92 years old, from a nursing home which was both physically and financially abusing her. She was unable to walk and in poor health because the nursing home had been sedating her and she was very sedentary. He took her into his home, and nursed her back to health where she became an active member of the community and enjoyed her life until she passed away fouryears ago, a month before her 98th birthday.
Nana had Alzheimer’s disease and Richard's company now focuses on these hard to treat patients and also became involved in fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association in Monterey. The company was proud to have raised over $60,000 for them. But Richard wanted to do more for impoverished seniors.
The founding of the non-profit was a culmination of Richard's work with clients at Family inHome Caregiving (he is a hands-on owner and often does caregiving himself), and dealing with the many non-profits here trying to serve senior citizens in the wake of continued state and federal budget cuts. It’s heart breaking to talk to seniors who can’t afford the basics like medical care, food and gas, let alone what many people feel are added extras like hiring a private duty caregiver for basic hygiene and food preparation.
Richard's frustration on many fronts led him to believe that there was a need for a one-stop company that a senior in financial need could go to for anything which would allow them to remain independent in their own home. Many seniors are afraid to go into an assisted living facility or skilled nursing care facility and would prefer to live at home.
Today, we are helping myriad senior citizens with everything from dental work, to home maintenance to helping with medical expenses. We hope you believe that this is a worthwhile cause and will help us fulfill our mission.
