Dear Friends of CaringKind,

I hope this year-end letter finds you well and that you and your family are staying healthy. For those who have been impacted by Covid-19, our thoughts are with you and your loved ones.

If you need to reach us for any reason, including making a stock donation, please call 646-744-2900.

In these unprecedented times, CaringKind is a beacon of hope and comfort to thousands of families affected by Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. When we closed our office in mid-March, our foremost priority was to ensure continuity of service for our clients. Within a matter of hours, staff were working remotely from home, caring for their own families while caring for yours. The pace has not lessened.

Calls to our helpline have become more urgent and critical as caregivers are frantic with worry. Covid-19 has presented new challenges — more isolation, greater depression and stress for the caregiver, and higher anxiety and agitation for the family member with dementia. For those in long-term care, the impact has been profound as families are unable to visit their relative to provide much needed hands-on care and the warmth of the “human touch.” Our skilled dementia care specialists and social workers respond to every client with compassion, while providing concrete and expert guidance in dementia care, based on a foundation of knowledge built over 40 years of serving the Alzheimer’s community. Our clients are our best advocates, with statements such as the following:

• “Without CaringKind, I don’t know how I would have survived over the past several months.”
• CaringKind has been a lifeline for thousands of families during this time. We are pleased to report on accomplishments, made possible by your support:
• Our Helpline, staffed by trained dementia care specialists, is available at 646-744-2900, and has responded to 6,054 callers seeking information, referrals and guidance.
• Our Support Groups are taking place via telephone conferencing and zoom, and we have 83 support groups up and running.
• Our Social Workers are providing one-on-one and family consultations and support and we have held 746 counseling sessions, helping caregivers to manage the complexities of dementia care.
• We trained 123 home care workers, in English, Spanish and Chinese to become specialized in dementia care, helping to improve quality care for a person with dementia, and provide a much-in-demand job skill for the graduate.
• Our connect2culture® programs are being offered, via webinars, with our arts and cultural partners — with an archive of recorded tours and experiences.
• Our MedicAlert® Wanderer’s Safety Program is enrolling more families who are anxious and worried for their relative with dementia who wanders and goes missing.
• Our Understanding Dementia for Family Caregivers, Legal and Financial Planning, Medicaid Home Care, and monthly special topic seminars have returned to a normal schedule and are being offered via webinar. Over 650 caregivers have attended.
• Our COVID-19 Resource Page on our website continues to add resources, advice, and creative ideas for activities for both caregivers and the person in their care.
• Outreach to African American, Chinese, Latinx, and Orthodox Jewish communities reached over 8,000 caregivers, providing invaluable tools and guidance.

Early in the pandemic, we received free of charge, 10,000 sterile face masks and distributed them to partner hospitals, nursing homes, and home care workers and clients.

Though our “virtual” doors have stayed open, this has been a challenging time for us financially. As a small
non-profit with a much bigger footprint, we rely on charitable donations to make our work possible and keep
our programs free of charge.

We hope that you will strongly consider making a generous 100% tax-deductible year-end donation. We acknowledge that for many, this has also been a challenging time, and please know that a gift of any amount would be greatly appreciated and have a life-changing impact on the caregiver families we serve. CaringKind would not be here without you!

On behalf of CaringKind, I wish you a healthy, peaceful, and productive 2021 and thank you for supporting our work today and into the future.

Sincerely,

Eleonora Tornatore-Mikesh
President and CEO

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