The Beautiful Determination to Impact
The Caring Award winners are focused on improving the caregiving experience.
After launching a business in 1995 to support family caregivers, I often heard:
“Wait, who do you help?”
Very few of my colleagues and friends got what I did. During the first years in business, I spent a lot of time simply describing who I helped: “If your mom cares for your grandmother, then I support your mom.”
But family caregivers got it. They subscribed to the monthly print publication I launched in 1995. They visited the online caregiving community I started in 1996.
I often wondered: When will everyone else catch up to what family caregivers do?
On Thursday night during our event honoring The Caring Award winners in our advocate, book and TikTok creator categories, I saw how far we’ve come.
Our winners offered their heartfelt reasons for their commitment to making a difference for family caregivers and carees.
Andrew McLindon, who started a foundation to give adaptive bikes to kids with special needs, shared how he felt when one of the bike recipients shared that the bike helped her find her inner athlete.
Lance Robertson, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging & Administrator of HHS Administration for Community Living (ACL), works tirelessly to reach as many family caregivers as possible because he understands how many need our support.
Norris L Roberts, author of “Daddy Is Still Here,” writes to keep the stories of his parents alive.
Karen Vick shares on TikTok about her days with her husband, Tony, because she knows ALS will limit their time together.
Our work no longer requires an explanation or an education.
Everyone understands the importance of our work in serving family caregivers and their carees.
Our winners vary in age, in caregiving situation and in their focus to make a difference. We’re all in it, though, to make a difference. Thursday night was about more than progress. It was about solutions. It was about comfort family caregivers can take that so many are working so hard to make a caregiving experience an easier one, a less lonely one.
After our event, an attendee sent me an email. “Beautiful,” she wrote.
Watch our event, below.
About The Caring Awards
The Caring Awards honor those who make a difference in the lives of family caregivers and former family caregivers. Throughout the year, we’ll accept nominations for categories and host events to honor our winners.
We’re currently accepting nominations for these categories:
Event or Conference
Eligibility: An event for those who care or cared for a family member that took place at any point during 2021.
Product
Eligibility: A product released in 2021 that improves the days of family caregivers, carees or former family caregiver.
Work of Art
Eligibility: Artwork or poem created by a family caregiver or former family caregiver.
Learn how to submit a nomination for The Caring Award.