Heal Together is a response to a serious need in our community.  It’s about caring for those suffering, providing resources where needed, and coming together as a community to help one another heal.

In January of 2021, Hospice Giving Foundation held ‘listening sessions’ with local professionals in various aspect of caring for those through end of life. Our purpose was to clarify the most pressing issues.  Time and again the conversations came around to grief, echoing what we were hearing on the national level about the ‘wave of grief’ as the next pandemic.   The local sentiments were that there wasn’t adequate care, Spanish speaking families had even fewer options, and whatever services were out there, were constrained by finances and couldn’t expand. That gave way to conversations within Hospice Giving Foundation’s board and staff to explore solutions.  In response, in early April 2021 the Board of Directors for Hospice Giving Foundation established a major grant initiative called Heal Together, to support the expansion of grief and bereavement services throughout Monterey County.

Hospice Giving Foundation put forth the first $500,000 and set a goal to build that fund to $1.5MM for a two-year project.  We knew that an initiative of this magnitude would take partners – other foundations and individual donors who also wanted to commit resources to caring for the many people grieving in our communities.

To date, this fund has grown to almost $1.2MM thanks to the generosity of the following funding partners: Harden Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Sally Hughes Church Foundation, Rotary Club of Carmel-by-the-Sea Fund, Yellow Brick Road, and several individual donors. It continues to grow and we invite community members to join us.

Heal Together will support program expansion, coordination of services with other agencies, bilingual/bicultural services and a wide range of interventions, and ease of use for the people who need the help. Finally, providers would get paid to offer more and individuals would get care regardless of whether they have a means to pay. On Dec. 9th, 2021 the grant was awarded to Coastal Kids Home Care who is establishing the Heal Together Hub to centralize resources, coordinate services, and expand care.