written by
Lucinda Koza

On This Thanksgiving, We Couldn’t be Prouder than to Partner with Give InKind

Partners 3 min read , November 26, 2020
from giveinkind.com

What is Give InKind?

Give InKind is an easy-to-use online tool for organizing support during life’s important and challenging moments. Each InKind page empowers communities to help from anywhere through a Care Calendar, Wishlist, News and Updates, Fundraising, and more. From the birth of a baby, to the loss of a loved one, to medical crisis, and disasters, Give InKind makes support simple so that no one goes through a big moment alone.

Give InKind’s Story

Give InKind was started with a notebook, a sea of flowers, and two grieving parents. After experiencing the unexpected loss of their first child, Founder, Laura Malcolm, and her husband, James, saw how much work was created for their friends and families that wanted to be supportive from around the country. There were questions about where to order delivery meals from, what to send or say, whether or not they were up for visitors or phone calls – and Laura knew there had to be a simpler way to coordinate all of the efforts from the loved ones that wanted to help. In Layla’s honor, Give InKind was born.

Watch the Give InKind’s Founder story here.

Helpful Give InKind Content:

Nobody expects sudden illness or loss in their family or friends.

When it does happen, it looks like there is one person who has it all under control: the daughter, the husband – the new full-time family caregiver. They’ve signed the papers and they know what to do – it is their father/son/wife, after all.

What I wish everyone could know is that this couldn’t be further from the truth. It is never easy. That one person does not know what to do, and they don’t have everything under control – more often than not, they feel isolated, and are locked in fight-or-flight mode.

However, with ongoing support and easy, constant access to resources and experts, this new family caregiver will be just fine – and they will be able to provide care for their loved one with compassion and purpose. This is the power that I Ally can give.

When I rushed my father to the hospital in late 2018, the several strokes he suffered had already caused extensive brain damage. I stayed by his side for 5 nights in the hospital. I didn’t leave to eat or shower. I did, however, sob on the phone in the hallway, begging my brother to come help me. He didn’t. I was young, devastated, and lost. I kept waiting for someone to swoop in and making everything okay. By the time I realized I was on my own, I had formed some kind of hardened outer shell that allowed me to make legal and financial decisions for my father, ultimately taking on full responsibility for his care.

The problem with this hardened outer shell is that it comes at a cost. I lost my job, and my mental and physical health suffered. I thought, ‘there must be other people out there like me.’ Millions, actually. How is it that I felt so isolated, yet there were millions of people who knew exactly what I was going through?

I decided to create an app for us.

I decided to create I Ally.

I Ally would unite us. We may be isolated in our caregiving role due to family circumstances, but in a community with peer support and mutual aid, we would finally feel understanding.

There is so much power in a united, supportive front. We could be each other’s sources of strength on the hardest days. With all of us united like that, there would be no reason for anyone to ever feel as lost and incapable as I did in that hospital – we would share resources, knowledge, advice, experts. I Ally is now partnered with financial coaches, mental health providers, legal consultation services, nutritionists, life coaches, and even a clinical trial matching service. Giving someone a membership to I Ally is giving them recognition for the complexities and difficulties of their labor. It’s giving them access to a world of support that may change their life. Creating I Ally has certainly saved mine.