Website makes caring burden-free
Website makes caring burden-free
Website makes caring burden-free
Horrocks poses with his 150-pound best friend, Micah.
COURTESY PHOTO
The Rev. Ben Horrocks was protected against infection as he awaited his stem cell transplant.
COURTESY PHOTO
Improving Meal Ministry
TakeThemaMeal.com uses the power of the Internet to facilitate the age-old ministry of bringing meals to people experiencing difficulty. Using this online service, people put together a meal schedule complete with information about food allergies and delivery directions. A quick email to a Sunday school class or small group invites people to select a time that fits their schedule and even post what dish they are delivering. The service is free, and you can create your signup page in less than five minutes.
Social Media Memorials
Facebook now helps loved ones share memories of those who have died. It allows family or friends to memorialize the deceased’s Facebook page. When a person’s account is memorialized, the postings no longer show up in newsfeeds, but the page transforms into a place to share stories. It gives friends and family members unable to travel to a funeral a way to celebrate the life of one they love, even though far away.
Dealing with chronic illness or a terminal disease is beyond overwhelming. When managing sick leave and medical bills, constantly updating people who care can add to the stress. A technological solution called CaringBridge (www.caringbridge.org) can relieve some of that.
CaringBridge is a tool to help people with difficult health issues communicate with those who care without spending every spare minute on the phone.
When the Rev. Ben Horrocks, pastor at Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church in Chesterfield, Virginia, first signed up for an account, it was to keep up-to-date on the progress of a friend who had created a CaringBridge site. “It allows friends and others ... to share their encouragement and support in a way that is not obtrusive, that doesn’t add the burden of answering the phone or emails,” Horrocks explains.
Soon after, Horrocks was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. He and his wife began to feel the weight of updating everyone. They decided that a CaringBridge site would be the best way to inform people without calls from well-meaning and caring friends barraging them.
Little did they know how much grace they would experience through CaringBridge. Every day, the Horrocks logged to see more encouraging comments, including some from friends they had not seen since high school. (More than a thousand were posted by the time his treatment was completed.) They also followed the CaringBridge sites of others fighting the disease, creating a virtual support group.
As the couple moved through an illness that often leads to surgery and isolation, CaringBridge connected them to their community in ways they had not imagined. The connection prevented them from feeling alone and isolated when no visitors were allowed in the hospital room.
As the youth group that Horrocks led prepared to go on its annual “tacky lights” tour, the adults logged on to CaringBridge to see whether Horrocks was having a good day by reading the latest update. He was and when the kids dropped by, the Horrockses took a picture and posted a big thank-you to their site.
Though Horrocks used Facebook to broadcast less-detailed and less-sensitive updates and Skype to see the dogs at home, nothing else came close to what CaringBridge enabled. “It’s a great tool for journeying with someone through illness,” he says. After he received a clean bill of health, Horrocks stopped daily updates, but he still posts after every clear checkup and continues to use CaringBridge to support those in the thick of their treatment.
The Rev. Jeremy Steele is Next Generation minister at Christ United Methodist Church, Mobile, Alabama. He is also an author, blogger at jeremywords.com and frequent contributor to MyCom, an e-newsletter published by United Methodist Communications.