What is Give InKind?

Give InKind is an easy-to-use online tool for organizing support during life’s important and challenging moments. Each InKind page empowers communities to help from anywhere through a Care Calendar, Wishlist, News and Updates, Fundraising, and more. From the birth of a baby, to the loss of a loved one, to medical crisis, and disasters, Give InKind makes support simple so that no one goes through a big moment alone.

Give InKind’s Story

Give InKind was started with a notebook, a sea of flowers, and two grieving parents. After experiencing the unexpected loss of their first child, Founder, Laura Malcolm, and her husband, James…

Becoming a part of the I-Ally Advocates means you can help others by introducing them to this community — all while racking up points and earning perks!

Even if you aren’t a caregiver right now, you can still be an Advocate! We are a large ecosystem and having allies is the most important part of building a supportive community.

Perks of being an I-Ally Advocate:

• Earn credits toward some of our partners’ goods & services.
• Earn I-Ally swag.
• Earn discounts on I-Ally services.
• Get a special badge next to your name that you can post anywhere.
• The opportunity to move your way up into the I-Ally…

For International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, I #ChoosetoChallenge society’s image of the family caregiver.

What do we think of, immediately, upon hearing ‘caregiver’? I would argue that we think of a meek, timid woman; a woman who is full of love and is completely devoted to giving all her waking moments to the needs of another. She’s not in 3D in our heads. We don’t worry about her because she doesn’t have any needs herself. We don’t even worry whether she’s equipped to take on the care of an ill or aging person in her home. We have…

I have been asked lately, “How did you transition from the trauma you went through to building something to help others?” Even though I’ve answered this question before, this time it gave me pause. I decided to truly take stock of my experience and my motivations, now that a year has passed since I-Ally was birthed.

I am also on the eve of taking part in TechCrunch’s TC Sessions: Justice 2021, an event that will no doubt explore deeply the act of innovation in the face of ignorance. …

Or, everybody sees you’re blown apart and everyone feels the wind blow, dude.

Editor’s Note: I wrote this 2 years ago and just re-read it. It captures the fallout of realizing that you are truly alone in a caregiving journey. -Lucinda Koza

For the first time in my life, I can feel myself aging.

I can feel the heavy weight of tragedy, of hardship, of something there is no answer for, drag me down slowly, slowly, further, further, more slumping, more drooping, less laughter, less ease, less … ease.

This is the first time I’ve felt smarter than my parents…

Author Rebecca Solnit wrote in Hope in the Dark,

“This is an extraordinary time full of vital, transformative movements that could not be foreseen. It’s also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.”

In this quote, this painfully perceptive writer captures the honest human experience of being alive during a year like 2020. She also captures my honest experience of being alive right now.

Being alive is accepting the duality of existence. Artist Maira Kalman said,

“We hope. We despair. We hope. We despair. That is what governs us. We have a bipolar system.”

This, of course, reminds me of one of my favorite theatrical…

Guiding Principles:

Conservation

The health, stability, and beauty of natural systems are essential to human well-being. Wise and responsible human activities will identify and protect sensitive natural and cultural resources and will use management and development techniques designed to protect and enhance the soil, water, air, and wildlife habitat.

Sustainable Economic Development

A robust and sustainable local economy provides an improved standard of living and quality of life for current and future residents of the Edisto River Basin and will foster conservation and responsible use of the natural and cultural resources in the basin.

Local Decision Making

Local governments that have accurate information and well-reasoned objectives…

I-Ally is for the family caregiver. I-Ally is not for the patient.

There are many communities and apps that focus on the patient, treating the family caregiver only as an extension of that patient. Mostly, the focus is on the patient and the family caregiver is completely invisible.

We believe this is damaging, harmful, and ignorant.

We believe the family caregiver needs services and support created solely for them. The family caregiver deserves a service focused on their wellbeing alone, and this is the only way a family caregiver can truly achieve wellbeing.

We believe family caregivers feel victimized, when in fact, they are extremely powerful.

As a result of being taken for granted by other family members, healthcare organizations, government policy and society at large, in addition to possibly feeling they had no choice in the assuming of their role as caregiver, these volunteer laborers are highly prone to depression and illness.

We believe the key to solving this problem is for family caregivers to become empowered in their role.

This can be accomplished by education and advocacy with the intention of battling ignorance on every level.

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