Sign into your Community Check in on your Community, share a photo or well wish or sign up to help. Sign into your Community here. Lotsa Marketplace At Lotsa, we understand the needs of caregivers. We know that they need help to manage all of their responsibilities, and we often come across companies who support caregivers. Check out our Lotsa Marketplace. Resources for You Lotsa Helping Hands partners with more than 50 of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations that provide information and resources to members of its communities. So, whether you are caring for a loved one with Leukemia or someone battling Alzheimer’s disease, we’ve got the resources you need. Get Started Lotsa Helping Hands powers online caring Communities that help restore health and balance to caregivers’ lives. The free service brings together caregivers and volunteers through online Communities that organize daily life during times of medical crisis or caregiver exhaustion in neighborhoods and communities worldwide. Create a Community for yourself or someone you love today. Share Lotsa Today! Finished reading the newsletter? Take a moment to share Lotsa with friends and loved ones.	Dear Friend, WELCOME TO LOTSA COMMUNITY WORKS Featured this month: Make a Promise to Help a Caregiver Lotsa News — Watch Our Webinar Lotsa Tips Blog Roll — Read Our Past Posts Chances are your inbox has been full this week with messages about "New Year's Resolutions" — and, chances are, you have made your own. It can be daunting to think about making a big promise to yourself for a whole year — eat well, exercise, rest more. That's a lot of pressure! Here at Lotsa, we’re always thinking about the responsibilities facing our nation’s caregivers. More than 65 million of them care for loved ones with chronic disease or disability. It’s overwhelming. We got to thinking that the best resolution we could make this year was to encourage even more people to make a promise to help a caregiver. That's why we launched a campaign called The Year of Helping Hands. The campaign invites everyone (that means you!) to make a promise to help a caregiver in 2013. For the coming year, promise you will bring a neighbor a meal, offer to pick up groceries for a working caregiver, or even create a Community of Lotsa Helping Hands for the caregiver in your life. Every act of help makes a difference. We've all made promises here at Lotsa and hundreds more are pouring in. Won't you join us? How will you promise to help a caregiver this year?      From our Community to yours,           Hal Chapel, Co-Founder & CEO Lotsa News New Webinars Now Available Join Lotsa and guest speaker Shirley Otis-Green, a licensed clinical social worker and Senior Research Specialist in Nursing Research and Education at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, as we take an inspiring look at the experience of caregivers who are caring for a loved one in pain. Viewers will learn: How to recognize when your loved one is experiencing pain Ideas for managing care for loved ones in pain Strategies in self care when caring for a loved one For more inspiration, check out our archive of caregiving webinars. We have over 15 recordings that can be a great resource to you as you care for your loved one. New Caregiving Infographic Learn more about how our 1.3 million members use Lotsa in our caregiving infographic. New Nonprofit Partners We are delighted to welcome the American Brain Tumor Association and the Kidney Cancer Association to our Nonprofit Premier Program. Both organizations are offering Lotsa Helping Hands to their constituents. Lotsa Tips We’re sharing tips for those Members and Coordinators who are coming together to organize help in Communities. Remember, you can always visit our How it Works Page for ideas about how to get the most from your Lotsa Community web site. Tip 1 — Our New Groups Feature Did you know you can organize your Community into smaller sub-groups for even easier organization? Community Leaders can use the ‘Add Groups’ and ‘Manage Groups’ links in the Administration tab to segment their helpers into smaller groups who can be contacted directly and organized to participate in select Activities. You can have a rides group or a group dedicated to delivering meals or coordinating child care. You can even turn Community Sections and Activities on or off for certain groups by editing the Permissions of each. There are so many ways to use this feature. Let us know if you need ideas. Tip 2 — Creative Ways to Use the Help Calendar When organizing support, there are common activities such as delivering meals and coordinating rides that often come to mind, first. But don't hesitate to use your Community in new ways, from organizing volunteers to bake cookies for hospital staff to rallying the neighbors to shovel sidewalks - we are consistently amazed by the creative care and love that Lotsa Members provide. What are some ways you can get inventive in the new year to support those close to you? Share your ideas, and if you need help getting going, let us know. We’re here to help. Tip 3 — Stay in Touch If you are receiving help from loving members of your Community or you are participating as a volunteer, don’t forget to try out the features that bring much needed emotional support to the family. Family members can stay in touch with volunteers by creating a personal blog, or uploading photos. Volunteers can post on the Message Board or Well Wishes wall. Your Community is yours to stay in touch with those you love and care for. If you have additional questions, contact us at info@lotsahelpinghands.com. Join the Conversation on our Lotsa Blog Want to learn more about Communities at Lotsa, resources from our nonprofit partners, and stories from the people behind Lotsa? Visit our blog and post a comment. And to keep up with our latest posts, you can now subscribe to our blog as well! Caring for the Caregiver: Finding the Right Recipe If Only…
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