Cora and I continue to receive confirmation that ACN is making a difference in the lives of our members. Recently one of our own family members was rocked by the unexpected death of a loved one.  When our work family received the call to action, there was no shortage of help.  Our ACN member shares her story below:

“When I got home that day after hearing the tragic news that my Dad had suddenly passed away, I was pricing airfare and car rentals for us to get to my parent’s home in Oregon as quickly as possible. On one of the car rental websites, I entered my email address in hopes of getting an email with some sort of special offer. When I checked my personal email, I couldn’t believe that there were actually donations that I had received from my Sterling family to help with my expenses. I told my significant other, and we both just started crying at the amazing generosity of my Sterling family.

You see, when I signed up for Amazing Care I knew my parents lived out of state and my daughter had some unexpected medical expenses so I thought it would be a great idea to have an account in case there was ever an emergency and I needed extra funds. I thought I would be able to set aside funds and I had hoped that I wouldn’t have a need to use them for a long time. It honestly never even occurred to me that I would need to use this account within such a short time. Just the day before hearing the news of my Dad’s passing, I was in a Sales and Management conference with our President and CEO, Cora, and many other Sterling family members. Cora was discussing all the wonderful ways that employers and participants could use their Amazing Care accounts and how important it was for everyone to have an Amazing Care account due to all the benefits and advantages the plan offers. I had no idea that I would need to use my account the very next day. It was such a comfort that I had saved some funds in my account and that my employer had also made a considerable deposit in my account earlier in the year as part of the Sterling employee benefits. Then, I was absolutely astonished when I saw emails that my Sterling family had made donations to my account. At a time when my heart was broken, I was overwhelmed with generosity and heartfelt kindness. I have never received so much love and support and I can’t even tell you what an amazing feeling it was. At that point, I literally said to my significant other, “now I understand why Cora named this Amazing Care because it is truly amazing to not have to worry so much about travel and expenses in a time of need.”

My own mother passed away in early June.  She had been moved into hospice late in February after multiple hospitalizations.  Our family had been preparing for the loss, but even when the day arrived, the sadness is not lessened by all the preparation.   My ACN account was there for me to use while I travelled back and forth to Iowa during this time.  I am grateful that the funds were available for these trips.  My mother loved to help those in need.  She spent the cold winter months making quilts for the homeless.  On one trip to the homeless shelter, the quilt count was 30 hand tied masterpieces.  Cora wanted to send a note to my Sterling co-worker, I asked that memorial donations be made to a Compassionate Gifts account held at ACN.  These funds are available to assist other members of ACN in their time of need.  Many thanks to all who donated. We can continue helping others with these resources.  We are humbled. 

There has been exciting and innovative news for our Hawaii members, the state recently passed a law to ease the responsibility for family caregivers.  The Kupuna Caregivers Act  is the first of its kind in the nation.  It provides qualified family caregivers with a voucher of up to $70 per day to be used towards services the caregiver would otherwise perform themselves.  There are specific requirements to be met as defined for the “care recipient”, “qualified caregiver” and “Kupuna care core services”.  For the budget year 2017-18, $600,000 has been set aside to fund this program.  For further details see the legislation here:  https://legiscan.com/HI/text/HB607/id/1605431 

From the President’s desk to your home, make it an amazing month.

~ Dawn

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