CARING HEARTS VOLUNTEERS -Receive a special blessing from Father Joe to renew their commitment to the Caring Hearts Ministry at the Noon Mass on February 9th. Approximately 70 volunteers from our parish have answered the call for help from the homebound elderly or disabled persons. You have given of your time to assist with shopping, transportation to appointments, chores, and visiting. Thanks to Mary Ann Issac of www.InterfaithCaregiversTrenton.org for participating and providing the photos.

An 83-year-old widow who no longer drives needs someone to pick up a few groceries for her once a week. She worries that without this help she might not be able to live on her own.

A polio patient who walks with a brace was relying on her neighbor to carry her trash out each week, but he will be away for 3 months this winter and she needs help while he's gone.

A retired gentleman is unable to keep up with all the small repair jobs needed around his house. His hands no longer have the strength they once had and his vision is failing.

A working woman in her forties is caring for her elderly mother and also for her two young children. A weekly visitor who could stay with Grandmother for two hours would give Mother some special time with her children.

Sometimes help with a small task or just a little companionship can make a world of difference to someone who is temporarily or permanently homebound. Interfaith Caregivers is a group of religious congregations working together to help elderly, disabled, and chronically ill people remain in their homes and stay as independent as possible.

"Caring Hearts" is a group within Our Lady of Sorrows parish founded in 1995 as one of 25 congregation-based groups participating in Interfaith Caregivers of Greater Trenton Inc., (ICGT). ICGT is the local organization within a nationwide network of congregations formed in 1984 as the "National Federation of Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers." The National Organization is now called the Interfaith Alliance.

www.InterfaithCaregiversTrenton.org

"Faith in Action" ( www.fiavolunteers.org ), a source of funding for national Interfaith Caregivers groups, originated in 1990 through the efforts of Dr. Paul Jellinek, an OLS parishioner, working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Foundation was the original source of seed grants totaling approximately $25,000,000 throughout the United States, of which $25,000 was used to start the Trenton coalition of ICGT.

ICGT is now one of 750 similar coalitions throughout the United States. Within the 25 member congregations there are approximately 200 active volunteers. In 2004 ICGT volunteers contributed a total of 11,000 volunteers hours. Tom Pryor of OLS serves on the Board of Trustees of ICGT. Sister Eileen Drain founded the OLS Caring Hearts group and has played an active role in its development until her departure in May of 2001.

The mission of ICGT and Caring Hearts is as follows:

1. To enable the frail elderly and disabled to remain at home by strengthening and complementing their support systems.

2. To encourage and assist traditional congregational commitment through organization in delivering volunteer support services to the elderly and disabled.

3. To recruit and train volunteers, through interfaith efforts, from all religious denominations and other sources in the greater Trenton area.

4. To promote the present system of services available through networking and the dissemination of information.

The rationale for this mission is found in the recognition that traditionally religious congregations have been the source of assistance to the frail elderly and disabled for a variety of reasons, among which are the following:

1. Many frail elderly suffer loneliness and turn to their religious communities for relief.

2. Elderly care receivers and care givers are especially comfortable interacting with others of the same religious faith.

3. Religious congregations offer services in ways different from public agencies and often have contact with the invisible elderly, who often don’t come in contact with public agencies.

4. Many frail people have been active and contributing members of their religious communities and now hope they will be shown the same care by the community.

5. The call to care for the elderly is found in scripture and ministry of all faiths. Many congregations are experienced in care giving as an ongoing ministry.

ICGT works with congregations through the National Federation of Interfaith Volunteer Care givers by providing comprehensive assistance, insurance coverage, special training, help with recruiting volunteers, linkage to the community network of medical and social services and linkage with other congregations engaged in a similar ministry.

Caring Hearts has been engaged in these efforts since April 1995 and since then has provided more than 1,500 volunteer hours to approximately 30 care recipients. Caring Hearts has approximately 70 active volunteers at present, organized through group leaders Sue Jellinek, Anne Kantor, Marguerite Brennan, Kathey Pierfy, Patrice Ryan and and Judith Komlosi, assisted by Marge Brennan who records the group's efforts and compiles reports detailing the number of volunteer hours.

Caring Hearts provides a vital link between the frail elderly and disabled and the parish community, and serves as a very real example of the "time and talent" our parishioners are willing to devote as basic tenets of our faith to those less fortunate or unable to care for themselves without much needed assistance.

OLS has been reaching out to those in need for many years through its hospital ministry, bereavement ministry, outreach in the senior's high-rises and nursing homes and through adult day care.

The challenge faced by Caring Hearts at this stage in its evolution is to broaden the volunteer base and identify additional persons in need within the parish, a task which is complicated by pride and a natural reluctance by those in need to seek the help they often require.