Messages from Amy

October 06, 2011
Hi All,

I hope all is well with you and that you haven't floated away in all this rain. The boys asked if we were having soccer practice the other night, and I told them that if we were, they'd better bring their life vests!

Things are gearing up for the next round of events that will be happening this fall, but I won't give you them all again, as I think I've reminded you at least half a dozen times! I am sending some new news along for you. You probably noticed that I have attached a flu shot schedule. Once again Mayo Hospital has been generous enough to extend their offer of free flu shots to all Pine Tree Hospice volunteers. All you need to do is show up at the times that are outlined and tell them that you are a PTH volunteer! If you do want a flu shot and cannot attend any of the times that are offered, please let me know and I will make arrangements.

The other thing I wanted to mention to you (as you may see it on our website) is a "2500 stamps for 25 years" campaign that one of our volunteers started. What she did was send her idea to everyone in her inbox. She asked all of her friends to send us stamps - any sized donation. We have gotten stamps from our neighbors, as well as from across the country. It has been great fun for us in the office, as some come with birthday or anniversary cards, and some come with no return address at all, and we only know where they are postmarked from. You are all certainly welcome to join her campaign and encourage all of your friends and family to join too. There is going to a be a beautiful 'thermometer' posted on our website that tallies where we are at. I believe right now we are somewhere around 600 stamps, so there's plenty of room for growth!

Also, since I have you on the hook already reading this email, I will put a plug in for submitting hours. September 30 marked the end of our fiscal year, so we are trying to get numbers finalized for the annual report. Please send in any outstanding hours as soon as you can. It is helpful to all of us, especially Sherri and Frances, who are the ones trying to input all the numbers!

I hope to see you all at our upcoming events!

Amy

PS - One final thing! Membership forms are online, as well as available in the office. If you would like to be a member of PTH, which gives you voting privileges at the Annual Meeting, please fill out your membership form and return it by October 14. This is important because we would like a strong voting membership! This form must be filled out every year, so even if you have filled out one in the past, a new one must be done for this year! Thanks!!

September 27, 2011
Hello Volunteers!

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful start to the fall season. I am loving seeing the leaves change and I am looking forward to more crisp, cooler weather! I am sending you a couple of "save the date" notes, as well as some other great news.

First, as 'save the date' notes: (Please forgive me if you've heard these before - I'm really excited!)

November 6 - Community Celebration of Remembrance. This is for anyone in the community who wants to celebrate the life of someone they've loved and lost. It doesn't have to be within the last year, or even within the last 5! It's a chance to honor a memory with some fun activities, and we have confirmed that we will have a small puppetry troop. It is shaping up to be an amazing day, which will include a balloon launch at the conclusion. The time and place are 1:00-2:30 at the Charlotte White Building on the Bangor Road.

November 15 - Caring for the Caregiver. This presentation will be in honor of Veteran's Day, and will feature Dennis Whall as our Keynote speaker. Dennis is a retired Master Sargent and is also a Hospice Volunteer for Hospice of York. His talk is titled "The Final Battle" and discusses the challenges that veterans face at the end of life. I hope that you all will put this in your calendars to attend, as it will be a wonderful presentation. Time and place to be confirmed later!

November 17 - PTH Annual Meeting at the East Sangerville Grange. It will start at 6pm, and this year's theme is "The Magic of Hospice." Don't miss it!

While all of that is great news (and tells you where some of my time will be focused) there is other good news...

Recently, we received a grant for $25,000 to fund part of my salary, and Sherri's salary. We think it's great news, but if you don't like us, well, the bad news is that you're stuck with us for another year :-)

The last good news, and it's REALLY good news is that an anonymous donor sent us $1000 with the intent that it be used for gas cards for volunteers. The donor was shocked that all of you do what you do to help our community without so much as gas money, and wanted to help us with that. We also talked about the challenge of getting volunteers to travel to places like Milo and Brownville. Hopefully these gas cards will assist some of you to help us in that area, and ease the challenges of the economic times.

Again, I feel like a broken record, but I want you all to know how much you mean to me, and to Pine Tree Hospice!

Amy

September 09, 2011
Hi All,

Now that the 25th Celebration is over and fall is setting in, I send you greetings from the PTH office. It was a very busy summer for all of us, and we are gearing up for some exciting things coming up. I want to send along a few dates for you to put in your calendar, as well as some reminders.

Please remember to send in your hours promptly. This saves all of us a lot of headaches in the end. I don't have to nag you, and you don't have to remember what you did 3 months ago. Anything you do on behalf of PTH counts toward hours, even if it is just making phone calls. You may not think that the hours are a big deal, but to us they are! We keep very careful track of the hours that come in, and we are proud to say that each year PTH volunteers give more hours of service than the previous year! Grantors do ask, and we want to be able to represent what we REALLY do. I know, you've heard this song before...

Our next "Caring for the Caregiver" installment is An Evening of Beautiful Music with Beth Weatherbee and George Corey at the Ridge View Community School in Dexter. Please take the time to call all of your current and recent past families to invite them. Also remember that you are a caregiver too, and we would love to have you. It is from 6-8 September 15, and we would like your RSVP by the 13th. Fancy desserts will be served as well!

Following that, on September 20, we have our Adult Bereavement Workshop. This month will be the last in a series we have called "Cooking for One." Those who have attended have found the practical tips and tricks very helpful, and have found a place to share their struggles. Anyone who has lost someone they love is welcome to attend. It is from 11-2 at the Dover Foxcroft Congregational Church (at the square) and RSVP is also necessary for that by the 13th. Please invite your families to come.

Erin Callaway and Cynthia Scott are getting ready to do the next Bereavement Facilitator training during the first 2 weeks of October. They are still taking application for that until September 15. Completion of this amazing training enables you to do Evergreen nights of Service, but also enables you to assist with the Adult Bereavement Workshops that happen monthly. If you have questions or interest, don't hesitate to call me.

The other new thing that we are currently working on is a Crisis plan. One of the things that Pine Tree Hospice does is make itself available to respond to community crisis. We did that back in June in Dexter. What we learned from that is that we need to have a plan for future events. We also learned that we would benefit from some additional training. At this point we're not sure what that's going to look like. If you are interested in being part of a "Crisis team" please let me know so that we can get a sense of how many people we would be looking at training. I assure you, more information will be forthcoming!

Save the Dates: November 6 - Community Celebration of Remembrance. 1:30-3:30. Location to be Announced November 17 - Annual Meeting - Time and Location to be announced.

Also, the week of November 7 will be our next "Caring for the Caregiver."

Thanks for all of the great work that you do!
Amy