Dear Friends of H4TG,
Happy New Year! As we close out 2019, we thank you — our community, partners, and friends — for your work and tireless commitment to moving our mission forward. Your support of our efforts positively impacted our success. Let’s take a look at some H4TG milestones!In 2019 YOU helped us to:Enhance our staff by adding a licensed clinical social worker. Her role is to work closely with the H4TG program team to: 1) provide subject matter expertise for both the staff and trained facilitator teams in navigating challenges they face in helping women with a breast cancer diagnosis and 2) assist in developing initiatives resulting in improved program excellence.
- Develop a program initiative designed for our members with stage IV, incurable breast cancer to address the unique needs they face. To start, we hosted our first annual You’re in Charge metastatic retreat in June. The retreat provided educational and informational sessions to help members plan for the future while helping them enjoy the now.
- Develop a program initiative centered on supporting our members through educational sessions. These sessions are designed to focus on specific breast cancer related topics, such as reconstruction surgery or women’s health. Sessions are presented by our partners in the medical community or subject matter experts in a particular field and help answer many of the questions our women have.
- Develop a bereavement process to honor the memory of our members whose lives have been cut short by breast cancer. We honor their passing through our new In Our Hearts life celebration program. The program includes a memorial to the deceased member on our In Our Hearts web page, inclusion of the deceased member’s name in our annual ceremony, and inclusion in our annual In Our Hearts glass memorial sculpture.
- Increase our grant and foundation funding by 65% to support the efforts of our program initiatives.
We enter 2020 with a sense of enthusiasm for the goals set for the year and determination to continually improve our program services. Here for the Girls offers what is important to our members – a shared experience, unconditional acceptance, inclusive relationships, and knowledge that provides a sense of empowerment.
Stay tuned for news on:New service offerings tied to the 2019 initiative for women with a metastatic diagnosis (incurable stage IV)
- Launch of an improved online presence to include a robust private portal just for our members
- Launch of the Transitional Phases of Support Model (TPSM) and related app that will better identify the support requirements of our members based on their individual needs and circumstances
We are incredibly fortunate to have such great partnerships within the communities we serve. As always, we thank you and appreciate your commitment to our women, and we look forward to the upcoming year.
Sincerely,
Chris Schwab, Executive Director