Fox Valley Hands of Hope needs help to provide grief counseling
The COVID-19 crisis has affected Fox Valley Hands of Hope's ability to fundraise and to provide services to those who are experiencing grief, loss or life-threatening illness.
Based in Geneva and founded in 1981, FVHH is a nonprofit 501(3) organization dedicated to providing expert support for youth, families and adults. All programs are provided at no cost to the client, provides compassionate care and guidance for the grieving.
The Daily Herald spoke to Noe Janus, director of development, to learn how the agency has been affected.
Q. Who does Fox Valley Hands of Hope serve, and how do you serve them?
A. FVHH provides services to anyone in need of grief or loss support services at no cost to the client. We offer a variety of programming in order to address and support the specific needs of our clients. Our ongoing monthly support groups include one geared toward men, another for caregivers and yet another to support caregivers after the loss of their patient.
Some of our shorter, multiweek group programs include one for adults who have lost a parent or guardian, as well as a group for parents grieving the loss of a child. In addition to these, FVHH's Project Hope is a collaborative program with local schools so that our clinicians may be grief and loss support groups to students on a weekly basis.
Our support center in Geneva also houses our Equipment Lending Closet - a closet full of various medical support items such as wheelchairs, walkers, and shower benches. The Lending Closet is available free for rentals lasting up to three months (although this service is temporarily suspended due to COVID-19).
Our Lending Closet and support groups are based in the Geneva area, and we will serve anyone who is willing to travel to our support center.
Q. From where do the majority of your donations come? Is there an annual fundraising event?
A. Our donations are made up primarily of grants, individual giving and event fundraising. During our 2020-2021 fiscal year, FVHH is premiering four new events - Bid For Hope (an entirely online auction) from April 13-19; a Garden Walk (rescheduled for June 2021); a golf outing (Aug. 31); and a brewery event (tentative for January 2021).
Q. About how many people per year does your agency help?
A. We serve more than 2,200 people each year with our programs and services. We partner with several local hospices and nursing homes to provide supportive volunteers to their center. We also partner with 46 local schools throughout the Fox River Valley for our Project Hope program.
Q. How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your organization and its ability to help those in need?
A. In accordance with CDC suggestions, our support center has temporarily closed its doors to our clients. Additionally, our Lending Closet has suspended all equipment returns as well as rentals.
Even though foot traffic to our offices has ceased, our counselors continue serving as many current clients as possible via tele-therapeutic methods.
We are also working on creating new programming in the wake of COVID-19 that addresses community need, such as a webinar series on coping with grief and a support group for widowed parents who are raising children during this trying time (conducted virtually).
The entire team at FVHH is eagerly awaiting the day that we can reopen our doors to our clients, volunteers and all of those who visit us at our support center.
Q. How can readers help?
A. Now more than ever, families need the support of Fox Valley Hands of Hope. We will always strive to be the main source of comfort to our communities as the whole world grieves during this time of great uncertainty.
Despite our commitment, there is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has put an additional strain on organizational resources. Financial support from of our community members go directly to FVHH clients so we can continue to ensure that all of our services remain operational and that they continue to be provided for free, making them accessible to a wide range of people from all economic sectors.
There are several different giving options on our website (www.fvhh.net), such as a button to make a financial donation as well as Amazon Wish Lists for our programs. Other ways to support FVHH during this time would be to visit our website and subscribe to our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook.
Q. If someone is in need of your organization's help, what should they do?
A. The typical first step of someone seeking FVHH support is for the potential client to reach out to our offices and complete an intake session with a member of our clinical team, which helps to determine the best fit group.
FVHH team is still responsive to phone calls, but emails are currently preferred. Our main line is (630) 232-2233 and our general email address is info@fvhh.net. From there, we will connect you with the right person on our clinical team.
About this series
"Helping the Helpers" is a series of short stories on how you can support suburban social service agencies impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Know of a nonprofit or agency we should feature? Email sklovstad@dailyherald.com.