[Washington, DC,]— National Volunteer Week is April 27 through May 3 and the American Hospice Foundation (Hospice America) is honoring all of the volunteers – both service and fundraising volunteers -- who support its mission of improving access to quality hospice care through public education, professional training and advocacy.
Ms. Naomi Naierman, the Foundation President and CEO, notes: “It is important to honor all volunteers who make it possible for us to accomplish our mission: the direct service volunteers in hospices and the fundraising volunteers who organize and run the workplace giving campaigns. We want to thank them for their efforts and dedication.”
As part of the Health 1st – America’s Charities federation, American Hospice Foundation receives significant funding from workplace giving campaigns, including Fortune 500 campaigns, state and local campaigns and the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), the federal government’s workplace giving campaign. The CFC alone has more than 258,000 federal employee volunteers who raise millions of dollars for thousands of charities each year, and their financial support helps provide our services to consumers.
Contrary to popular belief, hospice programs are not only for the elderly or those with cancer. Hospice services address all terminal conditions and extend to children and families for whom grief support is provided before and after a death. American Hospice Foundation has special programs and publications for school age children that are dealing with grief issues, including, for example, one especially for military families called Military Kids – Responding to Their Grief. This is just one way American Hospice Foundation uses the funds it receives from the Combined Federal Campaign, including the Overseas CFC which is run by the military and civilian volunteers who are Defense Department employees stationed around the world.
“Hospice volunteers bring compassion, caring and active assistance to dying patients and their families who are going through one of life’s most difficult times,” commented Marsha Nelson, American Hospice Foundation Vice President, “As a social worker, I am very aware of the difference volunteers make. During National Volunteer week and every week, we are grateful to all of the service and fundraising volunteers who help us to reach our goal of spreading the hospice message. We are pleased that this celebration of volunteering allows us to remind everyone that, without the dedication and commitment of all of types of volunteers, we would be a much poorer society.”
As a member of the Health 1st – America’s Charities federation, American Hospice Foundation is listed in workplace giving campaigns as Hospice America. Its CFC# is 10362. For more information about any of our programs, please go to www.americanhospice.org.
