I am trying to organize something for a friend who unexpectedly became very ill and has been in the hospital for a week. There will be 20 or so of us involved. Dinner or gift cards to restaurants are all I can think of. I would love some thoughtful ideas. They are a family of 5 with school age kids.
I think it might be a little too intimate to come into her home as some of the group are not close to her.
What about putting money in for a Visa gift card, that way they can use it on anything, maybe bills just in case the sudden illness took a toll on bills or clothes and/or necessities for the kids. Or Gift cards to places that offer a bit of everything like walmart and target. Does anything need to be repaired in the house that needs immediate attention? Maybe a Gift card to Home Depot, Lowes, etc.
Food, housekeeping, childcare, and transportation are the 4 biggest things I can think of. Bunch of ready-to-serve freezer meals, get the kids out of the house to some of the closer friends' houses for a few hours every day so she can rest, hire her a houscleaning service, and chauffer her kids around. lol.
* Offer to drop off and pick up her kids from school, if convenient.
* Offer to go to the grocery store for her when needed.
* Maybe pay for a housecleaning service to do a one time clean sometime during her recovery.
* If she has any gardening needs, maybe go over there to pull weeds, mow the lawn or whatever so that her husband has more time to take care of the kids and spend time with her.
* Buy her what I call "slutty magazines" (US, In Touch, People) or the like, for her to read during her recovery.
* Offer to drive her to any follow up doctor's appointments that she may have if her husband is not available.
I think in situations like these, where it's mom that is suddenly incapacitated, it's the day to day stuff that can suddenly get pushed to the side and neglected. Anything that you can do to help lessen this load from her and her husband's shoulders would probably help quite a bit.
I hope your friend makes a quick recovery.
On the day my Uncle was to return home after his hospital stay, I left an ice chest at the front door loaded with prepared chicken soup, tomato bisque soup, fruit energy drinks, breakfast danishes, chicken stock, and things that were prepared, along with a bouquet of flowers for my Aunt. She was overjoyed with the help.
When I was hospitalized a week after having my third child for many weeks, I can say that having meals delivered during the week was huge, I also recieved some gift cards which was very helpful, especially for target and the local grocery store. But to be honest the biggest help was to have the friends around to help watch the kids when I had to go in for follow up appointments. I also had a huge help in that my issues resulted in many emergency trips back to the hospital at some odd hours of the day and just to know that it was o.k. to call at 11 oclock at night and ask for help was not too much to ask for. Having friends come over with their kids to play with my kids was also nice...I didn't have to go anywhere and my kids were getting the attention they needed. Bonus was a lot of my friends would help out with a few things around the house when they stopped by also.
cook, clean, laundry. or hire someone to do it, how about a gift cert to a cleaning service in a card on a big tray of lasagna.
Take dinner every night for 20 nights-including wine!
Dinners would be great but coordinate what you're all making so they don't get meat loaf every night! LOL
What about after school care or something like that?
Gift cards would be great...make sure places are convenient for pick up or places that deliver.
My mom & her crew made it their mission to make sure a family's kids always had fresh homemade cookies in the house! That was cute.
Dinners will definitely be helpful. Also, see if the kids need rides to/from school and after school care. Offer to run errands - trips to the market or pharmacy, driving the kids to sports practices, etc will be very helpful. The mom might not be able to get around for awhile so taking care of basic tasks will help.
Maybe someone could go there a couple of times a week to do laundry, fold it, put it away, etc.
Just think of all the things you have to do around the house in a typical week as a busy mom - and help her do those things.
Could you organize the picking/dropping off of her kids from school?
Help with the kids, errands, chores, housework, dishes,... if they don't mind people being in their home.
You can set up a care calendar. It's a web-based calendar, so that people who want to help can sign on for the specific day they want to help - that way, you don't get five people on Tuesday, but no one on Wednesday. The person needing help can also say what sort of thing would be helpful on specific days - ie, someone to babysit on Saturday, bring a meal on Wednesdays, don't need anything on Sundays or Fridays, that sort of thing. You can sign up specifically for what you're bringing or doing.
You can also send out the information on her specific calendar (you need a password to see it) to everyone who wants to help, so it's easier to coordinate with a moms' group and a church or card club or any various groups who all want to help but don't necessarily know each other. We use it often for our moms' group.
Also, we have needed help a couple of times, and I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but our neighbors surprised us by mowing the lawn for us. One less thing on husband's to-do list. And here in Austin, it's already time to start mowing the lawns.
Ask what needs to be done.
Do their kids have activities? Do they need rides? Babysitters? Peapod delivered to their home? With kids it might be nice to have a truck drop off milk, eggs, cereal, toilet paper and lunch items so they don't have to worry about basic groceries. Anybody close enough to clean or do some laundry or walk the dog?
I think if everyone chips in, maybe some nice flowers for you friend, and cards would be nice, they will make them feel very special and loved. As for the family goes, it would be nice to, to make them some ready to cook dinners. Like casseroles, lasagna etc, so they dont have to worry about it.
Ask the spouse of your friend what you can do to help out and make things a little easier. They will probably have some good ideas for you.
Hope your friend is okay, and makes a speedy recovery! Best wishes!
