In August of 2014, Carol McCloud’s son, Ryan, became an organ donor. At 20 years old, Ryan saved four lives. Until her son’s passing, Carol and her family didn’t know much about donation, but she says it’s been a blessing to her and her family, helping them get through her son’s sudden passing.
The McCloud’s are residents of Fishtown, a neighborhood just north of Gift of Life Donor Program and the Howie’s House, so it was easy for Carol to begin volunteering with our organization. She began with the Donor Dash, and soon after, she visited the Gift of Life website to learn about other volunteer opportunities. Carol also noticed signs on the highway for the Howie’s House.
After some thought, she and her family decided that on the first anniversary of her son’s passing, they’d do a food drive for the Howie’s House. They’ve been doing one ever since.
The McCloud family fills up their entire minivan with food and other household supplies for guests here at the Howie’s House. Family, friends, and small businesses in the neighborhood like grocery stores and restaurants all contribute; relatives and friends also advertise at work. “A big chain of people have made this drive so successful,” Carol says.
The before and after care transplant patients and their families receive at the Howie’s House motivates Carol to keep giving. “Being able to help others the way people helped my son is important to me,” she says. “Volunteering and spending time at the Howie’s House allows me to see first-hand what they do for families and allows me to celebrate my son and spread his story.”
Carol and her family also volunteer as Home Cook Heroes on or around Ryan’s birthday.
Thank you, McCloud family, for selflessly supporting our mission and transplant families!
The ladies of Rutgers Gang have kept their college friendships especially strong. They began volunteering as Home Cook Heroes when the Howie’s House opened in 2011, and have continued their commitment to serving transplant families in honor of a member whose relative passed after while waiting for a multi-organ transplant and another whose daughter received two kidney transplants.
At least once a month, these women come together not only to catch up, but to prepare and serve a warm meal for our guests. “Some people don’t realize the stress on caretakers is very hard,” Barbara, one of the members, says. “It’s good to sit down, relax, and enjoy something other than a boxed meal.”
For one of their first meals, they prepared a big lasagna dinner. However, when they found out most other Home Cook Heroes groups were serving Italian-style meals, they started to change things up. Since then, they’ve served breakfast for dinner, Mexican meals, and have even barbequed outside.
“We’ve got our routine down to a science,” Barbara says.
After they finish cooking, the ladies will often go out to dinner themselves, bringing their husbands and boyfriends along with them.
“It’s fun to get together with my friends,” Barbara says. “It’s also fun to do something for others. We all love cooking and it’s something we can all do. The Howie’s House is so life-changing. It feels like home.”
We’re so grateful these women have found a home here at the Howie’s House and that by volunteering with us, they’re honoring important people in their lives.
We’ll see you next time, Rutgers Gang!
Sovereign Insurance Group of Devon, PA, a longtime partner of Gift of Life, made a generous gift to support our mission of providing a “home away from home” to transplant patients and their families.
The group underwrote the South Porch on the front side of our building.
“I’m so thankful for the folks who had the vision to make Gift of Life Howie’s House a reality,” says Mark, an employee with Sovereign Insurance Group who understands how our mission impacts families. “My family and I were the beneficiaries of a similar vision when my mom was hospitalized for an extended period of time at West Virginia University Hospital and a number of us stayed at the Rosenbaum Howie’s House in Morgantown, WV. It’s such a blessing to have a warm and friendly place to stay when you’re otherwise totally stressed out and far from home. Thanks for all you do!”
His co-worker, Eric, adds: “Having the Gift of Life Howie’s House available to the families and loved ones of patients is truly a blessing beyond words. Sovereign Insurance Group is honored to help make “a home away from home” a reality for the transplant patient families who need the supportive and caring services you provide. Our heartfelt thanks to all the staff and many volunteers who help make the Howie’s House a reality.”
We’d like to thank Sovereign Insurance Group for supporting our initiatives to give transplant families one less thing to worry about. Thanks to you, we can continue providing our services to create a comfortable, safe, and warm place for them to stay!
“There are a lot of misconceptions in the African American community about organ donation,” Keith Chalmers reflects. “People know very little about organ transplantation and I want to change that.”
Keith’s passion for organ donation awareness started with his own transplant journey about 7 years ago when he visited his family doctor for what he thought was just a bad cough. However, the cough didn’t get better. Over the course of two years, Keith was diagnosed with pneumonia, emphysema, and finally, COPD. Eventually, Keith’s journey led him to be placed on the organ waiting list.
Keith is very thankful to his pharmacist who first introduced him to the Gift of Life Howie’s House, where he stayed for four days in 2013 for testing at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was listed for a lung transplant. Keith received his precious gift of life from a selfless donor in March of 2015. Now, he stays at the House every 3 months for follow-up appointments.
“Without the Gift of Life Howie’s House, I wouldn’t have had a place to stay. I don’t think I could ever repay the folks there,” he says. “Everyone is so polite. If I didn’t live so far away, I’d be there volunteering every day. I’d help drive the van and clean up the house. Whatever I could do, I’d do.”
Keith is able, however, to volunteer every year during Gift of Life Donor Program’s Donor Dash.
Keith also spends a lot of time educating people about organ donation, specifically in minority neighborhoods. “Knowledge of the entire process is less common in these areas,” he says. “Not many African Americans know what organ donation really means or how it works. It isn’t advocated in the media enough.”
He keeps literature about organ donation in the back of his car, stands on line at the supermarket and asks people if they are donors, hangs banners outside his home, and even sets up a Q&A table outside his house in the summer to engage people walking by. Last Christmas, he helped 50 people register as donors.
He is extremely grateful for his precious gift. “Somebody saved my life,” he says. “Because of that, I’ll be out there, educating one person at a time.”
Jim and his wife, Kim, began their organ transplant journey in October 2014 due to complications with his liver function. He initially declined treatment because he wasn’t feeling sick and wanted to continue working towards his retirement. “There was no indication how bad it was,” Jim says. However, as time went on, Jim’s condition worsened, so much so that he was near death and his doctor recommended he turn to Hospice care. Neither Jim nor Kim accepted this diagnosis, so he began treatment. Towards the end his treatment regimen, his doctor informed him that he would need a liver transplant in order to sustain his life. The doctor referred him to a transplant hospital in Philadelphia where he would be tested and listed for a liver. For five months, Jim and his wife traveled back and forth from Virginia to Philadelphia for appointments.
During this time, the Princes’ planned a trip to visit Kim’s brother who was ill and receiving treatment in a hospital in Pittsburg. They planned to meet up with family friends Peggy and John during the trip, but when they arrived, they learned that John had suffered from a blood clot and was brought into surgery. Sadly, John did not survive and was pronounced brain dead later that afternoon. This was a terrible tragedy for their family, but John’s wife Peggy bravely decided to make the selfless decision to donate her husband’s organs—and she wanted Jim to receive John’s liver.
Shortly thereafter, Jim’s transplant team in Philadelphia flew to Pittsburg overnight to bring the liver back. After an incredibly unique chain of events and a brave family’s decision, Jim’s life-saving liver transplant surgery was successfully completed.
His story became a hospital favorite across different departments and floors. He stayed in the hospital for almost 12 days and then joined his wife Kim at the Howie’s House for the first month of his recovery. He attributes his strength during recovery to his faith and the Howie’s House’s warm, friendly environment. “Everybody’s so supportive [at the Howie’s House],” Jim says. “This is our house, and our family, too.”
“You never know the importance of how something we take for granted can change a life forever,” Kim reflects. “If you have a life, you can save a life. You never want to lose a loved one, and if there’s someone you can help, you should be willing to help someone else keep a loved one.”
“My experience at Gift of Life Howie’s House is inexpressible.
I spent 42 nights there while my husband was in the hospital. The Gift of Life Howie’s House is a home. When visiting my husband daily at the hospital, I would find myself telling him what time I would be going “home” that day.
When I did arrive home, I was always greeted by the smiling faces of the dedicated staff and the aromas of a home cooked meal. The rides to and from the House were another gift. The volunteers, many of them transplant recipients, were a source of support because they knew exactly what I was experiencing. Of course, there was also a tremendous connection that developed among the guests.
Although everyone had a different story, and we were all on different steps of the journey, it was such a comfort to share my day with people who were walking the same walk as I was.”
–Judy, past family House Guest
For several years now, my family and friends have come together at Gift of Life Howie’s House to cook and serve guests a special, home-cooked meal …
We choose to be Home Cook Heroes because we know what these families are going through. And we do it because we want to honor our own hero, our son Gavin, on his birthday.
Gavin had a febrile seizure that led to cardiac arrest in April of 2013. He was 5 1/2 years old. His kidneys were the only viable organs able to be donated — and both of them went to a man in his 40s.
Helping others is, to me, one of the best ways to honor Gavin. – Kate Leong
It meant so much to us to donate Gavin’s kidneys at the end of his life, and we feel joy over and over as we help families staying at the Howie’s House. They come from all over the world, and the Howie’s House serves as their “home away from home” — and so much more.
-Kate Leong
Through my job as an in-house social worker, I offer support — including individual and group counseling — to help families through the transplant process.
But over the last six-plus years, I have also wiped tears, given hugs, brought in therapy dogs, celebrated birthdays and graduations, thrown bridal showers, and so much more.
“It’s a privilege to stand with families who have come from across the state, or across the country, on their transplant journey.” — Talia Giordano
“It’s a privilege to stand with these families who have come from across the state, or across the country, on their transplant journey. And it’s a privilege to stand with other people who care. Will you make a gift during the Matching Challenge so every dollar can double to provide a home to patients and families in their hardest times?” – Talia Giordano, MSW, LSW, Howie’s House Social Worker
To help families who rely on the Howie’s House during a most difficult and uncertain time in life, a generous friend has offered a $50,000 Matching Gift opportunity. Like you, this caring friend wants every transplant family to have access to an affordable place of rest, delicious home-cooked meals, and a warm and caring community of support. So every gift received prior to the December 31st deadline will be matched dollar for dollar, ensuring that more transplant families will experience a “home away from home” at the Howie’s House.
When you make a bequest to the Howie’s House, you will help to ensure a “home away from home” for the transplant families who will need us for years to come. And you will have the satisfaction of knowing that your deeply held values will live on through the loving care we provide. You will also help to ensure that the Howie’s House is able to maintain their affordable fees and broad array of services for all who need support— now and in the future.
It is an easy and simple way that you can support the future of the Howie’s House and continue care for transplant patients and families. Bequests can be a percentage of the remainder of your estate or a specific dollar amount.
Sample language for making a bequest: “I give, devise, and bequeath to Gift of Life Howie’s House, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization located at 401 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123, EIN 26-0585694, or its successor-in-interest, (insert dollar amount or percentage) for its unrestricted use and purposes.”
If you already have prepared a will, you can simply add a codicil amending it to include the Howie’s House.
Already included the Howie’s House in your will? Let us know so we can celebrate with you now!
Enjoy recognition today as a Legacy Society member.
Supporters who notify us that they have made arrangements for planned gifts will be recognized as members of our prestigious Legacy Society. And for members who have made bequests of $10,000 or more will have their name and giving level added to the special Legacy Society Wall in the Howie’s House living room.
Visit www.GiftofLifeFamilyHouse.org for more information.
To discuss making a planned gift to Gift of Life Howie’s House or if you have already named us in your will, please contact Sara Cohen, Development Manager at 267-546-9812 or email scohen@giftoflifefamilyhouse.org.
Please consult your attorney, tax advisor or financial advisor before making a bequest or updating your estate plan.
Since we opened our doors more than six years ago, the Howie’s House has welcomed thousands of transplant patients and their caregivers to a real “home away from home.”
Among them is Alicia Hoover-Murphy, who found help and hope here first as a caregiver…and later as a transplant patient.
Alicia and her father had both been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis—a terminal lung disease for which a lung transplant is currently the only treatment option.
Two days before his 46th birthday, the call came … Alicia’s father would receive a new set of lungs. Like many transplant families, they were far from home as they waited and hoped—for months.
Your support of Gift of Life Howie’s House made sure they had a little less to worry about during those endless, scary months. At the end of every long, hard day spent at the hospital cheering him on, the family returned to a “home away from home” that included home-cooked meals; clean, comfortable rooms; heartfelt support from staff; and camaraderie with other transplant families.
Although her father’s transplant was a success, complications mounted in the months following the procedure, which ultimately claimed his life.
Over the next few years, Alicia grew sicker herself. It was a bittersweet day when she and her loved ones returned to Gift of Life Howie’s House so she, too, could undergo the many tests and consultations that would lead her to being listed for a transplant.
“When we were there for my father, we’d made friends with the staff and other families at the Howie’s House. They were all like a second family to us,” Alicia says. “It was so nice to be surrounded by people who understood what we were going through and to be able to educate one another about what to expect.”
When her call finally came, Alicia was more than ready for the lung transplant that would restore her to health, to her family, to life.
Alicia’s transplant was a success. She and her family are deeply thankful for the organ donor who gave her a second chance in life and for contributors like you who make the Howie’s House a warm, wonderful, and affordable place to stay during a most difficult time.
“Thank you to all of you for this amazing home. You make it possible for the Howie’s House to offer an environment that is safe to people going through extremely rough times in their lives,” Alicia says. “The Family House provided a place of shelter for my family and provided me with a whole other family that I love and care about as if they were my own relatives.”
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