Dear John,
My story might sound familiar to you: my parents taught me to chase the American dream. My mom worked in aerospace engineering. I worked my way up in the tech industry with a good salary and was saving for retirement. And then in 2013, my mom had a stroke, needing to stay in the ICU for a month and rehab for six months. Within a year we burned through more than half of our combined life savings.
Now I’m a full-time caregiver with multiple part-time jobs to try and make ends meet. Caregiving is important to me — that’s why I started my own organization Loving Them Forward in Washington state to support caregivers. It’s also why I became a 2020 Caring Across Generations Care Fellow. [[link removed]]
I learned incredibly valuable skills about advocacy, being a spokesperson, and political organizing as a Care Fellow. It takes about $5,000 to support each of our twenty care fellows throughout the program, and we want to have an even bigger cohort this year. Will you support the Care Fellowship with a generous donation today? [[link removed]]
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During my caregiving journey, I have learned that there is no better quality of life than love. But it’s also hard to be a caregiver and maintain consistent employment with the personal time off I need to care for my mom. My own health deteriorated, and I didn’t have insurance because I had to leave my position and other jobs become more scarce when you’re a full-time caregiver. We suddenly went from middle class to poverty.
No one knows how little insurance actually covers or the fact that traditional medical coverage through Medicare or the private markets do not provide long-term supports and services (LTSS) coverage outside of paying out of pocket. What I needed was real, tangible support in the form of access to Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) like skilled and well-paid homecare workers to help me take care of my mom and stay in the workforce. These workers are life savers not just to those they provide direct services to but the family caregivers they support by providing services that allow us to continue to participate in the workforce with the confidence that our loved ones are well looked after right where they belong — at home.
I became empowered to fight for HCBS and to expand high-quality care to everyone through the Care Fellows program. With your support of Care Fellows, more caregivers can develop their advocacy skills and come into their own power. Please consider making a gift today!» [[link removed]]
Caregivers are really going through it, but we do it because of how much we care for our loved ones. No one should have to give up their job, their income, or health to care for others, and that’s why I work with Caring Across — to change the way care is viewed and supported in America. I hope you’ll join our movement and continue to invest in our vision of #CareForAll with renewed support today!
With care,
Christina Keys
Care Fellow 2020
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