Gratitude Report 2020
Celebrating your generosity
Broken Bowls Get Golden Repair
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken pieces.”
– Ernest Hemmingway
Sisters Chloe (left) and Kaleah hold their broken bowls created at a youth grief session last summer.
“Stuff gets better.” That’s the title 10-year-old Kaleah gave to her broken bowl. She and her older sister, Chloe, were devastated when their father died a year ago. They both made a broken bowl last summer at our youth grief session. This activity was based on a Japanese tradition of restoring broken pottery through “golden repair.” The pieces are decorated and glued together into a work of art and resilience.
Humans are like vessels and we hold many things. Yet it’s easy to break under the weight of grief or illness—or a global pandemic. When we cope with trauma in a positive way it transforms our brokenness into strength and beauty.
This Gratitude Report celebrates you and other generous donors who gave our agency the strength and resources to carry on through COVID-19. Together you raised $623,532 in fiscal year 2020. Your support helped grieving children like Kaleah and Chloe as well as vulnerable patients needing charity care. Community donations also helped us purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), testing kits and cleaning supplies to keep our staff and patients safe during the pandemic.
Grieving teen Chloe is grateful for your gifts. In her words, “Making a broken bowl was a cool project because it glued things back together. It made me have hope and helped me heal a little. When I look at it, it makes me happy. Thank you.”
Broken bowls get golden repair
Four Community employees earned the distinguished title of “Frontline Hero” in The Daily News for their selfless work in protecting and connecting with our community during a year fraught with challenge.
Ailon continued his hospice visits, stepping in for primary caregivers or coworkers when COVID-19 kept them at bay; Darla kept the Longview Hospice Care Center sanitized and safe for patients, nurses, doctors and administration; Denny adapted to social distancing standards, staying connected through virtual means to patients and families who needed emotional support during a difficult period in their lives; Tiffany rallied tailors across two counties, creating and heading the Community Sewing Brigade.*
Please join us in thanking these heroes. Their sacrifice and dedication have been such an inspiration for all of us here at Community!
Golden friends
During 2020, their hardworking members held a variety of fundraising events to support different agency needs including the broken bowl project. Their gifts paid for hospice inpatient care and respite care for patients without insurance. When the pandemic hit, the group donated $25,000 to our COVID assistance fund. These funds were used to buy PPE (masks, gowns, face shields, gloves, etc.) for our nurses and other clinical staff. PPE helps keep our staff safe and healthy so they can continue working in the community caring for patients wherever they live. This is especially important during COVID when families can’t be with their loved ones. The funds were also used to buy powered air purifying respirators called PAPRs for staff use in our hospice care centers. A PAPR includes a battery-operated fan, supply hose, filter and hood that provides high-level protection against contaminated air. Thank you to our golden friends for the many ways they help us care for our patients, families and staff.
Torrie Morrison, RN, wearing a custom-fit PAPR unit.
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