LilyPads Housing Receives Training from Boston's Hospitality Homes

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the board of LilyPads Housing, and our community partners, participated in a training by Emma Galin-Attleson and Denise Duclos of the non-profit Hospitality Homes. Founded in 1983, Hospitality Homes was the first program in the nation to provide short-term housing in volunteer host homes for families and friends of patients receiving medical care. Since then, they have been able to serve more than 15,300 families in the Boston area. You can read more about their wonderful work on their website, www.hosp.org.

Over the course of the two-day event, we were extensively trained on the logistics and best practices for placing families in host homes within the community. We learned how to properly vet guests and hosts, how to recruit and train hosts, how to place guests, and so much more! While, we still have a little work to do before we can officially open our organization to UVA pediatric families, we can now begin the process of training our current group of 15 volunteer hosts. This training was invaluable. We completed it feeling so empowered and invigorated. We are now one step closer to being able to do the important work of taking care of families during some of their most difficult times.

If you, or someone you know, would like to find out more about becoming a host with LilyPads Housing, please visit our website (www.lilypadshousing.org) or call (434) 260-0724. By opening your home, you can make such a huge difference in these families' lives. <3