HOSPITAL VISITS

While it is admirable to hear of people helping people they have never met, it is only natural to long to meet the recipients of our efforts, not so much as to receive gratitude or recognition but rather to appreciate the significance and relevance of the aid being given. The Hospital Visit attributes faces to our beneficiaries; it transforms them from mere ideas or objectives into real living persons calling out to us for help.

For the first-time visitor, an interactive visit is preferred over a mere tour, since it enables the him to ask his own questions (supported by guidelines), and discover for himself the circumstances and conditions surrounding the patient's illness and need for assistance, as opposed to formulating in his own mind, judging merely from what he observes on a tour, "how tough things must be here". The answers to his questions come directly from the patient's mouth gaining credibility and a human touch. By being interactive, the visit allows a one-to-one encounter between real persons. It makes the patient feel more warmth and caring. After an initial visit, subsequent visits—which address the patient's well-being beyond serving as mere exposure trips—will by consequence need to be interactive to achieve this objective.

While the activity is not directly a fundraiser, it does serve to generate a more solid commitment from members since it instills in them a stronger conviction in the goals of the foundation, which reflects when the member shares the Foundation with new people. It is very difficult to sell an idea that one does not believe in. It is very difficult to believe in something one has not seen; to do so would be foolish or saintly. Theory is now supported by something concrete to hold onto. Thus, in the long run, the visit does produce financial returns.

Financial merits aside, activities such as the hospital visit embody what foundations are all about; they symbolize volunteerism in its purest form --giving without any impetus to quantify material returns, without any assurance of immediate or clear results. They fully express "outreach" which touches the human spirit of the recipient, and unavoidably nourishes the giver as well.