Close to Home: Support our community on Giving Tuesday

At church recently, in the space of 15 minutes, two people came to me asking for help. The first was a special forces veteran experiencing post-traumatic stress and back pain from a service-related injury. The second was a program coordinator seeking support services for a farmworker and his family.

Is this unusual? No. I'll be shopping, having a meal or walking my German shepherd, Bennie, and people start talking. They might need caregiving support for a loved one. They might be a veteran or first responder who needs a little more trauma-related help than they've found through their branch or department. Do you hear stories like this? You'd be surprised how many of the people around you in the ordinary course of your day are suffering from caregiving or trauma-related stress and hardship. Someone you passed on your hike at Spring Lake — someone ahead of you in line at the grocery store — might be someone who is silently wondering how they will take care of a parent while making ends meet.

Yes, people talk to me. I've worked in the trauma-recovery field for more than 50 years, but I don't think that's the only reason. I, too, was a caregiver to my beloved wife, Lynn, who died a year and a half ago. Caring for Lynn was a humbling experience and made it possible for me to connect with people at an even deeper level than I ever had before. My experience also led me to help create Lynn's Legacy: Caring for the Caregiver, a program to promote resilience and well-being for family caregivers. So I'm open, I listen and I strive to relate to everyone I meet as a fellow human being. If at all possible, I want to help.

According to a recent study by AARP, more than 53 million Americans devote a portion of their day to feeding, driving, cleaning, paying bills or monitoring medications for a loved one in need of caregiving support. Sixty-one percent of caregivers were also trying to keep their jobs, and 23% of these caregivers reported their health had declined because of their overextended lives.

The Sonoma County Area Agency on Aging’s current four-year plan reports that the top financial concern of aging Sonoma County residents is having enough money to live on while paying for needed caregiving.

More than 10 years ago, I spearheaded a group that established a local nonprofit to provide just these kinds of supportive services. Sonoma Coast Trauma Treatment is working in our community to offer relief, renewal and resilience for the exploding population of home caregivers, and PTSD-related healing for veterans, first responders and their families. SCTT sponsors the Lynn's Legacy program.

SCTT currently has a huge gap between the needs in our community and the funds they have available to help. You can help fill that gap. Information about SCTT's services can be found at sctraumatreatment.org. You'll also find a donate portal on the site.

Also, this coming Tuesday is Giving Tuesday — a day when people are encouraged to give back to their community by volunteering or donating to a charity or nonprofit organization. SCTT is honored to have been included in the United Way of the Wine Country's list of worthy local nonprofits for its Giving Tuesday campaign.

Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, is a great new tradition to remember the causes and charities that deserve your support. I plan to donate on this day, and I hope you'll join me.

Peter M. Bernstein is founder and director of the Bernstein Institute, which has been working in the trauma recovery field for more than 50 years.

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