Dear Friends of My Mother,

Happy springtime wishes to you all!

Following is what I hope will be a regular fundraising update, as well as a health update on my mother. You will also notice, if you go to the website, a few new pictures that were taken at Christmas time, as well as a much-requested new feature, a page for accepting credit cards.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE

I first would like to give you all very warm thanks for your generous support of my mother. Your donations have been rolling in steadily since I first launched the website at http://www.ecprophet.info last December. I can also report some progress in negotiations with the church board on my mother’s behalf. However, nothing is solid yet and so I must ask that you continue your donations at or above the previous levels.

As far as the level of donations, they started the year strong but have dropped off somewhat in the past month. If they pick up again and continue at the levels they were during the first two months of the year, we will be able to meet our goal, which is to allow my mother to continue in a home care environment. I will let you know when we have reached the goal.

Based on the strength of the early gifts, I have gone ahead and added some caregiver hours, which has made an enormous difference to my mother’s current helpers. Murray, Claude and the caregivers all join me in giving you a heartfelt thanks for making this possible. You have made their job easier, and lightened some of the strain that had been building up over the past few underfunded years.

I would also like to thank those of you who have made monthly pledges. These are very helpful to us in planning and budgeting.

My sister Tatiana has taken charge of the thank-you efforts. We are attempting to send personal thank-you notes to everyone who donates, along with a copy of one of the photos of Mother for donors of over $100. Please forgive us if we haven’t gotten to you yet. I want you to know that all of your gifts are most appreciated.

As many of you know, my mother’s birthday is coming up on April 8. We plan a small, private celebration with visits from her son Seth, as well as her daughter Moira and grandson Elliot. If you want to send her cards or gifts, you are welcome to send them to the Mother’s Care Trust address (see website). Easter has always been an important holiday for her, since she was born on Easter Sunday. This year, her birthday falls on the Thursday before Easter. Moira is looking forward to sharing Easter brunch with her in addition to the birthday celebration.

Now Accepting Credit Cards

As I mentioned, in answer to all of you who have requested it, we have set up the website to accept credit cards—Visa and MasterCard only, at this point, although we may add additional cards if there is enough interest. Please visit it to see the added page under the “Contributions” tab. I hope this will make it easier for those of you who are overseas. Go to http://www.ecprophet.info/paytypes/chargepay.html

If you scroll down on that page, you will also notice the option to set up recurring payments if you are interested in donating the same amount on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

Unfortunately, we are not able to accept electronic checks at this time.

If you do happen to send in a donation of more than $100, please don’t forget to indicate which photo you request. The options are for: "Mother in Front of Altar", "Mother Praying Before Buddha, 1986", and "Birthday, 1991".

MOTHER’S HEALTH

I don’t have any major changes to report to you regarding my mother’s health. The good news is that she is in happy spirits most of the time and does not seem to be experiencing any immediate discomfort.

However, her movement and speech abilities continue to gradually decline. She often does not speak for an entire afternoon. On the up side, she does still seem to have moments of clarity. I recently spoke to her on the phone and found that she was able to put quite a bit of her old enthusiasm into three words as I told her of the family’s love and support.

When my boys and I visited her at Christmas, we noticed that she was less responsive than in the past. She didn’t appear to be able to pay much attention to Seth’s new puppy and she did not appear to be very aware when we were gathered for a group photo. However, she was holding tightly to my hand, as you can see from the picture, and seemed to be appreciative of the family visit. She does still offer warm hugs and kisses to her family upon arrival and departure. And she is also fond of music, especially the Big Band classics of her youth. When I visited her, I was able to get a little of that old spunk going as we danced around the room to the “Twelfth Street Rag” (see picture).

Once again, thank you for all of your support. I know that many of you are making sacrificial gifts when you put your checks in the mail. I want to assure you that you are making a difference.

With love and best wishes on behalf of all of Mother’s family and caregivers,

Erin

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