elders heal with Reiki heal themselves heal others heal the world a grandparent in spirit body slows, spirit blossoms values community leads by example
EldersBloom
Elder
EldersBloom
Annual
Report
2009
www.eldersbloom.org
|
EldersBloom is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation that brings Reiki healing* to elders. We do this by: ·
offering
Reiki talks and demonstrations to elder communities ·
creating a
framework for elders to learn Reiki for self-healing and healing others ·
offering Reiki
providers ways of connecting with elders ·
continually
keeping up with research that validates Reiki’s benefits for elders ·
creating
visibility for Reiki among people and organizations involved in aging and
elderhood *Reiki
is hands-on healing, practiced by millions around the world. It is accepted as an effective therapy at
many hospitals, improving patient wellbeing.
It is not a religion; people
of all beliefs practice Reiki. It
yields deep benefits to overall health and happiness. Donations are gratefully
accepted, to: EldersBloom PO Box
135 Yarmouth ME 04096
USA
Or donate via the website: www.eldersbloom.org. Donations are tax-deductible in the U.S., and may be also in your country – check your tax laws. We are always looking
for Reiki practitioners and teachers, and people with nonprofit skills, to
help this project bloom. Please help! For more
information, contact Jeffrey Hotchkiss, phone
207-318-1362, email jefreiki@maine.rr.com. |
EldersBloom 2009 Annual Report
www.eldersbloom.org
Table of Contents
2009 Events
2010 plans
Improve and expand outreach to elders and
their communities
Improve and expand outreach to Reiki
providers
Create a website that can support EldersBloom
efforts globally
Strengthen the roots: management, partnership, research..13-14
Financial – obtain funding for early specific
efforts
How you can
help.......................................................................17
Thank
you...................................................................................17
Emerge with Joy
This year started with a ringing endorsement of Reiki on nationwide television. Reiki Master Pamela Miles demonstrated on a very blissful audience member on the Doctor Oz show of January 6, 2010. Dr. Oz enthusiastically recommended that his audience try Reiki. This created joy among Reiki practitioners around the U.S., and prompted a surge in inquiries from the general public.
The growing visibility of Reiki calls its practitioners to work diligently, honestly and compassionately, to represent Reiki to our neighbors with clarity, integrity and ethical behavior. We are on stage now.
This is true even more so, for EldersBloom. We are asking elders to trust something new, asking children to trust our healing hands on their parents. It is our work, to set fair expectations, to keep our language simple and accessible, to create safe and ethical space, and to give the best of ourselves to our work with elders.
Following is a
report of the events in and around EldersBloom last year, and our plans for the
coming year. 2009 was a year of
exploration of themes around elder healing in general, new highlights for Reiki
in particular, and steady growth of EldersBloom membership around the
country. In 2010, we are planning for
growth, to fund and organize greater elder healing, through the gift of the
EldersBloom nonprofit foundation.
To all supporters
of EldersBloom, Reiki providers, elders and children of elders – thank you for
staying with us and sharing your dreams for the work we are doing.
Blessings,
Jeffrey Hotchkiss
Reiki Master
Yarmouth, Maine,
United States
February 8, 2010
2009 Events
People
By the end of 2009,
there were 83 people on the combined EldersBloom mailing lists, with a big part
of the increase coming with the Facebook EldersBloom “cause”. Of those 83, 40 of you are signed up as
direct Reiki providers, and many of you have already assisted at Reiki Healing
Forums in Maine, or held your own elder healing events in your local
areas. The most active states were Connecticut,
Michigan and California.
A quote from one of
our new members, Lorri Cooper in Michigan:
”I have 2 hospice patients in an enhanced care facility that
I visit/Reiki weekly and just recently met the activities director, so,
Eldersbloom is still in my sights. It's a fabulous place with many activities
and great care and respect for the residents. Just might be a VERY
good fit.
”Yikes...and if I may share...out of pure excitement... I am being allow[ed]
access to an oncology unit in a local hospital to do Reiki weekly on patients,
family members and nurses! They welcome me to be apart of
rounds/meetings, to be fully informed on patients needs. They have
actually been "asking" for someone with Reiki!
The women who have hooked me up with this opportunity have also offered me the
hospital’s "Intro to Reiki" presentation to use because I have
been invited to do an inservice with mini sessions for a Hospice Company.
“And...if that isn't enough...I'm participating in the same
hospital’s Womens Center...Introducing Reiki to expecting mom's for their Labor
and Delivery experience.
”...I'm just sooooo darn excited to share Reiki...!”
Congratulations, Lorri!
Your excitement and enthusiasm inspires the rest of us. Other Reiki providers have shared similar
excitement – Lorri’s is the most recent, and the one I had the foresight to get
permission to quote in this report.
Thank you, Lorri, for sharing, and thank you all for your passion in
providing Reiki to elders. To everyone
else: please send your stories to me as
you see fit, and I will share them with all EldersBloom, for information and
inspiration.
Elder Reiki in Maine
In
past years, we have held Reiki Healing Forums – talks on Reiki with sample
treatments – at 10 different elder communities in Maine, several hosting us on
multiple occasions. This year, we held
Reiki Healing Forums for hospice volunteers, and for another elder community in
Portland, Maine. Thank you to Tricia
Santi, Bob Beane and Jan Winsor for their Reiki hands at those events.
I
continued to serve elder clients in Yarmouth, Maine, and referred inquiries as
they came in – more frequently in the past month or two, as public Reiki
awareness broadens.
Conference
In May
2009, the generous help of donors allowed me to attend a great conference. Sponsored by the University of Maine School
of Social Work, Center on Aging, and co-sponsored by the Maine Gerontological
Society, it was a day-long presentation and discussion of how early life trauma
can resurface in later life, and how that affects elders.
Expecting
to simply attend and absorb the information, and maybe network with a few
professionals in the field, instead I was thrust into the limelight. The first audience question, of the first
speaker, mentioned Reiki. As one of the
few Reiki Masters in the room, I found the microphone in my hand, responding
along with the speaker. There was
general agreement that somatic (hands-on body-centered) therapies had great potential
for healing trauma, and that the counseling professions had historically
overlooked this potential. It was
surprising and delighting, that Reiki was mentioned so prominently in this
context, and that I was able to create visibility for EldersBloom among this
professional group.
I
have been working on a more detailed trip report for this conference, and hope
to share it with you all soon. The
topic is so important, a major concern in healing for elders. There is only so far we can go until past
trauma puts up obstacles, and we who give Reiki are called to be gentle,
mindful, and aware of when someone needs additional support.
Grant application – Maine Health Access Foundation
In
June, EldersBloom submitted its first serious grant application. The Maine Health Access Foundation
(www.mehaf.org), issued a call for innovative community-based grant
proposals. It was a very competitive
field, I was glad to simply be gaining the experience and visibility, and
delighted that the program manager agreed that Reiki was credible, even if we
didn’t win the grant. I received great
help, validation and support from USM, and from Reiki Rays of Hope (see
below). Confidence was built for more
sustained grant seeking this year – and we’ll need it, along with your
donations!
Other projects for elders and Reiki
USM Study
The
University of Southern Maine College of Nursing and Health Professions
completed a study showing statistically significant outcomes for elders who
received Reiki treatment for their pain, anxiety or depression. Professor Nancy Richeson, a Reiki Master,
conducted the study, and was most helpful with the EldersBloom grant
application in mid-year.
Many
thanks to Professor Richeson for her support, and I look forward to future
collaborations.
Reiki Rays of Hope
Reiki Rays of Hope for Caregivers completed a large grant
project, teaching Reiki to 198 caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s
disease and dementia. Research results from
a Case Western University collaboration on the project showed: “...significant decrease in caregivers’ perceived
burden of stress, significant increase in quality of life scores of caregivers,
and significant decrease or lower level of reaction from caregivers to the
behaviors of their loved ones.” (Judy
McCracken, CEO of Reiki Rays of Hope, in a 2009 email.)
Reiki Rays of Hope has clearly found a way forward with Reiki and
caregivers. Our congratulations on
their work, and I plan to keep in touch.
Their website is www.reikiraysofhope.org -- please take a look.
Internet
EldersBloom became present on Facebook in 2009, as a “cause”. The application Causes allows creation of member lists, discussion forums, fundraising goals and handling donations. We ended the year with 35 members on this one cause.
EldersBloom registered on VolunteerMatch.com. Several Reiki providers have connected with us via this site. This service seems promising for the future.
I was interviewed by friend and first outside-of-Maine EldersBloom member Tracey Owen, on her Internet radio show Tao Radio. The archived show is available for listening at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tao-radio, the November 20, 2009 episode. Thank you very much to Tracey for having me on her show!
I started discussions with a nonprofit website designer about the functionality and business purpose of a full-scale EldersBloom website, and received a ballpark cost estimate of $5,000, to get the basics started. In the Internet age, this will be a critical piece of how EldersBloom can help Reiki providers reach out to their elders around the world, and will be a major push in 2010.
As a first step, EldersBloom secured the “www.eldersbloom.org” domain name, and temporarily pointed it to the single page it’s had for a while now.
The Internet has great potential to publicize this project. However, it remains true that Reiki, and therefore EldersBloom, really happens as a hands-on, in-person activity. That is why future plans must have a balance between Internet and in-person activities.
Financial
Operating on a shoestring thus far, EldersBloom is not legally required to report finances. However, intentions at beginnings are crucial, and a key value in business, especially for nonprofits, is honesty and transparency. Therefore, here are the numbers for the past 3 years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As financial activity increases, we will need more formal governance, which means expanding the Board of Directors.
EldersBloom is a DBA of Elder Circle, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Maine. Directors are Jeffrey Hotchkiss, Joseph Wolfberg and Jane Fecteau.
Medicare
– someday
The most frequent question I get from elder audiences for Reiki talks is, “does Medicare cover it?” The answer is, regrettably, “no”. Each year, I search the Medicare website (www.cms.gov), and each year, find no hits on “Reiki”.
Except, last December, I was delighted to find two hits, for the first time! Though the references were obscure, and there may be some hurdles to clear before we can see Medicare reimbursement at any level for Reiki, the case for it is building all the time. Credibility with mainstream medicine will be a key milestone.
2010 plans
To grow the vision of elder healing for the world, more Reiki providers need to put more healing hands on elders, and prepare responsibly to do so. Elders need to get excited about what we’re doing, and guide our work. For all of us to be able to spend more time on elder healing, the financial picture has to come into focus, and EldersBloom must become a going concern as a nonprofit organization, embodying the values of compassion, integrity and ethical practice.
Goals
for the coming year
· communicate vision for growth
· improve and expand outreach to elders and their communities
· improve and expand outreach to Reiki providers
· create a website that can support EldersBloom efforts globally
· strengthen the roots: nonprofit management, partnership with other projects, clinical validation and research
· Financial – obtain funding for early specific efforts
Communicate
vision for growth
Each elder, each Reiki provider, each new contact – each person who gets excited about the “elders heal with Reiki” goal of EldersBloom, becomes a co-creator of the project. If you have read this far, you are a co-creator, and thus have a voice in shaping the vision. We need to give your voice a chance to be heard, as the project continues. New ways and old ways are open to you: Facebook, email, telephone[1] - contact me any time with your ideas and questions about what EldersBloom is meant to be.
This report itself gives a glimmer of that vision. Any enterprise worthy of effort, has to have many people involved in co-creating the vision, not just one person’s dream.
So, please write or call me, with your description of what “elders heal with Reiki” looks like to you. Together, we’ll keep the vision growing.
Improve
and expand outreach to elders and their communities
The Reiki Healing Forum has been very successful in getting us in front of elder audiences at nursing homes, assisted and independent living facilities, and other organized elder communities. We now need to look at how to widen the audiences to the general public, where children and caregivers of elders may be reached. Ways of increasing audiences (free food, anyone?), need to be examined. A range of settings should be supported – theaters, buses, trains and cruise ships are a few possibilities. We are currently working on this idea, here in Maine.
As awareness of Reiki increases among all ages, we also need to be ready to receive inquiries in a way that promotes trust. Someone looking up Reiki for the first time online would be overwhelmed (10 million-plus hits on Google just now). So, the EldersBloom website will have to be welcoming and responsive to elders’ questions about Reiki.
Whether in person or over the Internet, ways of effectively reaching elders need to be shared among EldersBloom Reiki providers, so that each provider can have a range of options to get started.
Improve
and expand outreach to Reiki providers
Doing Reiki for elders has some unique conditions and requirements. A key purpose of EldersBloom is to gather and share best practices for this specialty.
Today, if you sign up to be an EldersBloom Reiki provider[2], you receive a set of Word documents that help you get started. These are the first basic versions of the services we envision. New versions will be needed, to support Reiki providers in their work with elders. Beyond documents, both online and in-person training needs to be developed.
EldersBloom is now present online for Reiki providers at VolunteerMatch.com, and on Facebook as “EldersBloom”. Word of mouth and in-person connections also have been effective. Thought and strategy are needed to create a wider outreach to the Reiki community worldwide.
Create
a website that can support EldersBloom efforts globally
Vision and outreach are essential elements, no matter what the means and media are. Projects like EldersBloom grew and flourished before the Internet ever came to be. We need to stay focused, that Reiki, and therefore EldersBloom, is essentially an in-person, hands-on, human activity.
That being said, we are now living much of our time in an online world, one that also enables a global vision. EldersBlooms’ website today is a single crowded page. We need to create a robust and sustainable site, which could do the following and perhaps more:
· a directory of Reiki providers, listing qualifications to work with elders, other modalities if any, and more
· downloadable materials, based on agreement to EldersBloom values, that can support a Reiki provider in outreach to their local elder communities
· a forum for EldersBloom Reiki providers to share learnings and best practices
· online training availability, including video
· a research reference, validating Reiki’s benefits for elders
· liability insurance for Reiki providers in applicable regions
· links to other organizations that do related work, and share key values around aging and elderhood
This will be a significant effort and expense. Computer projects almost always cost more and take longer than expected. To be successful, our vision for a website must fit with our shared vision of improved outreach and services.
Strengthen the roots: nonprofit management, partnership with other projects, clinical validation and research
Nonprofit management
The EldersBloom nonprofit is the container for all this development and envisioning. I have passion for the project, experience with Reiki, and experience with creating and managing projects. However, I have limited unpaid time to devote to it, and limited experience in the nonprofit sector. Here are some of the elements that need more robust support:
· nonprofit general direction and advice
· fundraising, grant-writing
· risk management – legal
· administrative setup and support
A membership for EldersBloom in the Maine Association of Nonprofits, will be a good start, and make advice and resources available for the above. Transparency and integrity are critical – expert advice and support will help.
Other memberships will be maintained: Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce, honoring the origins of EldersBloom; and VolunteerMatch.com, recognizing its effectiveness for outreach.
Partnership with other
projects
Reiki Rays of Hope for Caregivers, and University of Southern Maine College of Nursing and Health Professions, have been valued partners this past year. We hope to continue and deepen those relationships, and discover more people, projects and organizations to do the same. As the world ages, many are working to find ways that elders can reclaim their role of wise guidance for humanity, from art to advice networks to councils formed around focused issues. These form EldersBloom’s natural community. First, mutual awareness and respect, then finding ways of collaborating, allows everyone to amplify their effect for good. The online world is humming with this activity, far more than one person can keep up with.
Clinical
validation and research
In addition to Professor Richeson’s USM study, quite a few small-scale studies have been completed already, inquiring into Reiki’s benefits for conditions that affect elders. Transparency and integrity are best served by offering all the credible evidence – whether positive, neutral or negative – that is publicly available, and by clarity about the quality of that evidence. Criteria for inclusion need to be explicit and open to discussion. Resources such as Pamela Miles’ Reiki in Medicine website – www.reikiinmedicine.org - will be helpful as well.
Financial
– obtain funding for early specific efforts
The following is the first draft of planned funding needs for 2010 for EldersBloom, based on the goals above. More detailed work is needed, with as much advisory help as we can gather, to have a complete picture. We’ll target a mid-year revision/expansion/refinement of these projections, based on details and advice as they take shape.
My understanding of nonprofit operations is that there are four major areas of funding: revenues from services, donations, grants, and in-kind contributions. Historically, EldersBloom has benefited from occasional honorariums for Reiki Healing Forums (proceeds shared among attending Reiki providers), and from donations either general or for specific events such as the trauma conference last year. To all who have donated, thank you deeply, and please consider continuing your support.
In the area of grants, last year was the first significant application, though less formal attempts have been made in past years. This year, with the new visibility of Reiki, and with new innovations such as online voting for grant allocation, and with the expanded vision for growth, I am setting a personal goal of at least one grant initiative per week, whether researching or actual applying.
For in-kind funding, the most promising area may be in website development. I’ve received at least one recent solicitation for website development that includes granting for nonprofit clients. The main criterion, though, for a website, will be the developer’s ability to support the vision and requirements of what we need, and in-kind offers will be secondary.
Below is the draft funding request for what is defined so far. As mentioned above, there will no doubt be much to add and revise as we go along. In the meantime, your suggestions, connections and direct donations will be much appreciated.
|
|
|
Eldersbloom 2010 financial planning |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All
figures in whole dollars |
|
|
|
||
|
COSTS
- planned |
|
|
2010 cost |
annual cost |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yarmouth
Chamber of Commerce dues |
70 |
70 |
|||
|
Yarmouth
Wellness Fair, by 2/15 |
|
|
|||
|
registration |
|
|
75 |
75 |
|
|
liability insurance |
|
|
150 |
150 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Website
development |
|
5,000 |
500 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MMC
Geriatrics Day March 31 |
|
50 |
50 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maine
Assoc. of Nonprofits |
|
50 |
75 |
||
|
(dues based on operating budget) |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Salaries/stipends |
|
|
10,000 |
20,000 |
|
|
(if any paid staffing this year) |
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Improved
Reiki Healing Forum event(s) |
1,000 |
2,000 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
PLANNED COSTS |
|
16,395 |
22,920 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
REVENUE
– needed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income
from services |
|
|
895 |
1,395 |
|
|
Donations/memberships |
|
2,000 |
4,000 |
||
|
In-kind |
|
|
|
2,000 |
4,000 |
|
Grants |
|
|
|
11,500 |
9,395 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
NEEDED REVENUE |
|
16,395 |
18,790 |
|
How you can help –
time, money and relationship
Your time in sharing Reiki with elders is the central gift. Your time in helping to guide this project is equally valuable – please consider how your life skills can energize the nonprofit. Contact me for information.
Money allows us to dream big, and to realize those dreams. Your direct donation makes a real difference. Help with identifying and applying for relevant grants is also much appreciated. We promise to manage your generous donations transparently and responsibly.
Relationships are most important. Though we all work with projects or organizations, it’s the people who make and sustain relationships. If you know of others who would be excited by EldersBloom, and with whom we could make common cause for the long term and/or specific projects, please connect us.
Thank you
If you’ve read this far, it means you are truly interested and engaged by this description of EldersBloom poised for blossoming. Thank you, deeply, from my heart, for your love of elders and wish for their – our! – healing.
Like any enterprise, EldersBloom does not really exist, outside of the heartfelt dreams, visions and goals of individual people. Your gifts of time, money and relationship nurture the Earth from which we grow. I hope that you may join us, in any way that feels joyful and balanced to you, as we see this unfold in beauty before us.
Thank you, to my Reiki teacher, Lindsley Field, and her teachers, and her teachers’ teachers, all the way back to Mrs. Hawayo Takata, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, and Dr. Mikao Usui, for their carrying of this torch in daylight, this healing art that belongs to all of us.
Blessings,
Jeffrey Hotchkiss
Yarmouth, Maine, USA
February 8, 2010