Help our Family care for “Mem”

Six years ago, my 86 year old grandfather, Ray, broke his hip taking out the trash - his only concern being for Claire, our grandmother and the love of his life. As he adjusted to the idea of not being able to care for her himself, he kept telling us to take good care of her, and my amazing family tackled the challenge head-on. The family immediately began taking turns to provide 24/7 in-home care for these two people who started it all for us - Claire and Ray Foster, or as the grandkids know them, "Mem" and “Pep”.

Life takes us in many unexpected and important directions. Ray passed away in March 2018. A lot has changed since, and both time and pain have taken a great toll on Claire's physical and mental health. With deteriorating memory and dementia, Claire does best in the home she has known through four decades. We want her enjoy each day in comfort at home. However, she can barely walk, and needs help each morning and night to even get into and out of her bed. At the beginning of 2020, six years since beginning the 24/7 care shifts, the Foster family finds that there is some struggle in meeting care needs. In addition to the round-the-clock care, we've made major changes to her house over the years to be able to keep her in the home she knows and loves (handicap bathroom, lift chairs, hoyer lift), but it now comes down to needing regular hired help to give Claire the assistance she needs and keep her dreams happy each night.

We love Claire - our Mom, our Mem - more than anything in the world. She has spent much of her life caring for others - not only raising 5 children of her own and 7 grandchildren, but donating her time to care for children in a neighboring orphanage when they lived in Rochester, New Hampshire, fostering a newborn, and always welcoming members of the community without homes of their own into ours. This makes it easy for us who know her to return the favor, and we would like to humbly ask for help from anyone else who can give it.

We thank you with all our hearts.