How you can help . . .
Updated
June 10, 2009
First
of all, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone. The outpouring of
support and affection for David since his stroke on March 20th has
been very heartwarming and is truly appreciated.
On
behalf of David, and all of us working to help him through this, a very BIG,
and very sincere Thank You.
To
be clear, our goal for David is nothing less than a complete return to the
activities and life he was enjoying before this happened. We are encouraged by all the success
stories and are glad he has had the help so far of everyone at
During
this journey, I have been using an internet journal to keep
everyone updated with his progress and the road travelled and I will keep this
updated at least a few times a week.
I
have created (and recently updated) this separate “How Can I Help”
page as a resource to provide information for those that would like to help in
some way and are looking for suggestions.
Now that David is (or soon will be) at home things are different than
when he was in the hospital all those months.
• How Can I Help?
-
Emails, Cards, Letters, Flowers, etc.
Emails,
Cards, Letters, Flowers, etc.
The journey to
recovery is difficult, both emotionally and physically. Every word of support
and encouragement is greatly appreciated and really does help, more than you
can imagine.
- Emails can be
sent directly to David at david@clementineskitchen.com,
or to my email address: drew@clementineskitchen.com
- If you would
prefer to write something for the world to see, you can instead make your
feelings known through a ‘comment’ attached to one of the updates
on the internet journal (see link above).
Your comments may take up to 24 hours to appear due to the spam filter
sending them to me first.
- Letters or Cards
can be dropped off at the store, or mailed there. The address is:
Clementine’s
Kitchen, 465 Canyon
If you have our
home address you can use that also, but I am not including it here as this is
posted on the internet.
Phone Calls and Visits
- Once David is at
home you can feel free to call during the day between 9am and 7pm. Email me if you need our home number or
mobile numbers. Our mobile numbers
do not work at our house though due to the terrain.
- The therapy
schedule will still be very regular once he is home and he will have a
combination of in-home and outpatient therapy scheduled so his schedule will be
pretty busy. If you have some time
available please call and we will be happy to have you come by for a visit or
we can let you know when he will be at the store from time to time.
Direct
Financial Support
Thankfully David
has health insurance and we are depending on this for his medical and therapy
needs. This will cover the physical
therapy for a few months and we are going to concentrate on getting his as far
as we can on this.
The reality is,
however, that this will not be enough to complete the full recovery process or
to provide ANY coverage for in-home nurses aid
assistance.
I have established
the ‘David Babcock Medical Expense Foundation’ to help defray these important
and likely significant expenses.
To contribute you are welcome to send any donations to him at:
David
Babcock
%
Clementines Kitchen
465
Del
Rey Oaks, CA 93940
Any check should
be made out to “David Babcock Medical Expenses”. If you want to use a credit card, you
can come by the store, fax, or postal mail me (no emails please) the
information and we’ll process it along with a ‘receipt’ for
your use.
Since the
Foundation only helps David, it is not a registered 501(c)3,
however depending on your own tax status it might be deductible.
Support for David’s Favorite
Charities
In the internet journal I included reference
to the SVMH Foundation and the CHOMP Foundation for donations related to the
therapy dog programs.
Got
Some Time Available?
Once David is home
there will be plenty of opportunity to volunteer some time to come by the
house, or store, and help out while David is there. Even volunteering to come to dinner or
lunch with us, or do some shopping or other chores, will be a great help since
I suspect that I will be needing a hand quite often. He is very self sufficient now, but still
needs someone to get him things.
A few days after
he is home I will update here with more information, or email me directly.