2019 February 03
Karl Seidman
“The Caring Community”
The concept of a Mountain Light Unitarian Universalist Church Caring Community, as developed jointly by members Blenda Fairman and Karl Seidman, borrows from concepts in gerontology. We would focus on: getting to know each other better through sharing common interests to create a more close-knit community and organizing for mutual support and caring in small sub-groups. The was a presentation on the concept, as well as a questionnaire, to determine what additional interest groups in which members would like to participate.
Service Leader: Ed Wolpert. Music: John Puett.
Mountain Light UU — Caring Community — Summary Proposal– February 2019
The Mountain Light Unitarian Universalist Church Caring Community began as a concept nurtured by Blenda Fairman, based on her many years of experience as a critical care nurse and her compassionate humanitarian ideas about caring for others in the community.
Purpose– Borrowing from the concept of intentional communities and the field of gerontology, our Caring Community would focus on healthiness, wellness, and general well-being as nurtured by mutual support, and lifelong learning. We would collectively help each other to do what we can to stay as healthy as we can. A goal of this effort would be to help members maintain health in order to avoid hospitalization.
How the Caring Community Would Function
- Activities related to Healthiness, Wellness, and Mutual Interests
- Organizing for Mutual Caring
- Transitional Support for Living Arrangements
1. Activities related to Healthiness, Wellness, and Mutual Interests
As a Caring Communtiy, to get to know each other better, we could have more joint activities, such as seminars, wellness programs, and more interest groups in addition to the movie nights and book club such as—a music club where members could share interesting music with each other, an Adult Religious Education group, a writers’ club to share our efforts at writing
2. Organizing for Mutual Caring
This will occur at some time in the near future. To be a participant in the Organized Murtual Caring Community you must be a member of the Mountain Light UU Church, but participation would be optional. Participants will have a phone, e-mail and address list of all other participants. Participants would be grouped into geographic subgroups as much as possible of about half a dozen individuals. All members of the subgroup should agree ahead of time that they are mutually compatible.
Within the Subgroup: We would share information about ourselves and gain mutual knowledge of each other’s health conditions. To the degree we feel comfortable we would share our personal thoughts and feelings with others in the subgroup. We would help each other to avoid loneliness— and be able to be alone but not be lonely
Each participant would have,:1) A non-family member “buddy” from within the subroup who would be the primary contact ,2) An assigned individual in the subgroup who the participant would have the responsibility to check by phone each day if that is wanted ,3) A designated health care advocate—a qualified member of UU (the Fairmans for now) When an individual becomes ill or incapacitated the members of the sub-group would help the individual as much as possible to be able to remain in their own home. Participants could help each other as needed to go to doctors’ appointments, to go shopping, and provide visiting if the individual is not able to leave their home.
- Transitional Support for Living Arrangements
The Fairmans have and continue to be willing to provide support in their own home as a short-term, temporary “Home Away From Home”. They would provide a living space in their home for an individual Mountain Light member who cannot care for themselves, on a short-term basis. They would take them to doctors, provide food and water, and companionship and care for pets as well.
The initial effort toward developing a Caring Community is the attached survey about developing more interest groups, so that we get to know one another better.
Mountain Light Unitarian Universalist Church – Interest Group Survey
In order for our membership to become more close-knit as a group we can develop more groups of mutual interest.
- Below are some suggestions for new groups to form:
- Music group– to share interesting music with each other, by bringing cd or MP3 to be played.
- Adult Religious Education group–to explore, share and compare religious beliefs
- Writers Group—to share efforts at writing poems, stories, memoirs, etc
- Outdoor Group—for kayaking and hiking group activities
- Crafts Group—for gathering to work on our individual crafts
- Discussion Group—to discuss topics of mutual interest
- Coffee House—Musical Entertainment
- Game Night
- Other groups—fill in:
- ___________________________________________
- ___________________________________________
- __________________________________________
Please check off the boxes of the group or groups you would be interested in and fill in any other group you would be interested in seeing developed.
- Leading a group—
Would you be interested in leading any of the groups you are interested in?
- Yes, I am interested in leading one or more of the groups I have identified above.
Contact Information:
- Please fill in below your name and phone and e-mail address to be contacted for groups that are formed:
Name_______________________________________________
Phone_______________________________________________
e-mail_______________________________________________
This will be shared with an individual who has indicated they are willing to lead a particular group.
Thank You,
Karl Seidman, Mountain Light UU Board Member 706 276-1745, thekseid@gmail.com