Caring by Card
Caring by Card is honored to be In Residence with Gray Panthers NYC. Our mission is to uplift the lives of people living in nursing homes and help alleviate the brutal loneliness they often feel, by inspiring volunteers to make homemade cards and send them to the nursing homes we sponsor every month.
We are inspired by Gray Panthers’ founder, Maggie Kuhn’s words:
However, not all nursing home residents are old. Many are in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s. People live in nursing homes because they are very sick, not because of age. They can’t live alone because they need total support in their basic care needs: Bathing, eating, going to the bathroom, getting in and out of their bed or wheelchairs, taking medications, etc. It is not easy to depend on others and to live with people you don’t know. That’s where our mission comes in! Through every card sent, we remind nursing home residents they are seen, loved, respected and not forgotten. There are exciting developments in the works at Caring by Card - we will be sharing some big news with you very soon. Sign up here to stay connected and get involved as we grow our mission! http://eepurl.com/iT6ZOU
Some highlights of what Caring by Card has accomplished this year
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In December, we hit a huge goal and milestone, sponsoring our 50th State! A nursing home in every single state in the USA has received cards through our service project and since January, we have sponsored 24 new nursing homes.
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We solidified a partnership with the Rudolph Steiner school in NYC: They have committed to sing at the Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home as a part of their music and community work, singing for the residents. This spans from the lower school ages 8-11 and the upper school ages 14-17.
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Large companies have reached out to us wanting to make and send cards as team building events, including Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and MGM Studios.
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We have organized 5 different singing concerts at Amsterdam Nursing Home and Riverside Rehab this year, inviting volunteers to sing through the hallways and in community rooms for the residents.
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Papyrus and Love Pop, large stationary stores, contacted us to sponsor nursing homes and send their beautiful cards to our “nursing homes of the month.”
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Over 20 schools and universities have volunteered with Caring by Card, including NYU Stern School of Business, Carnegie Mellon, Dickinson University, University of Maryland, University of Illinois at Chicago, Cornell University, Louisiana State University (LSU Health Sciences Center School of Nursing Student Association)
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Caring by Card met with the Mayor's Office and the Service in Schools Outreach Coordinator who included Caring by Card in the newsletter which went out to 80,000 NYC Public School Educators inspiring them to get their students to make and send cards to nursing home residents.
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Rachel, Founder of Caring by Card, spoke to NYS Senator Brad Hoylman Siegel twice and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthall asking them to make sure the NYS Dept of Health takes seriously and follows up on the complaints of nursing home residents and their families and advocates.
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Over twelve high schools and three girl and boy scout troops made and sent homemade cards to Caring by Card, including Trinity here in NYC.
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Caring by Card collaborated with Changing the Narrative on fighting Ageism answering the question, “What would aging look like if unbound by Ageism?” ​