Caring for the caregivers

PRINCE WILLIAM, Va. - Azalea Charities and two of its benefactors, Prince Leopold d’Arenberg and Count Bernard de Grunne of Belgium, is supporting a pilot program in support of caregivers that has been introduced by the Quality of Life Foundation.
“I always wanted to do something for the U.S. military,” d’Arenberg said. The men are supporting the pilot program financially through Azalea Charities
Both Azalea Charities and the Quality of Life Foundation are nonprofits that have their headquarters in Prince William County. Azalea Charities raises funds to support a dual mission. It focuses on aid for wounded warriors and in the Northern Virginia area, it supports a number of youth and special needs projects. The Quality of Life Foundation seeks to help the most severely injured of service members and their families and believes that getting wounded warriors home from the hospital is just the first step in a long journey to recovery.
“Our focus is on the catastrophically wounded service members who require full-time caregivers,” said Kim Munoz, executive director of the foundation.
The foundation spent a year researching who was taking care of the caregivers of these veterans, Munoz continued, and put together a report that was distributed throughout the military community and to nonprofits like Azalea Charities in 2009.
“The report identified a gap between resources and needs,” she said. “The biggest gap we found for these families is when they transfer out of the hospital. They no longer have the safety net of hospital staff.”
Oftentimes, caregivers find that they need help with everyday chores like grocery shopping and getting the kids from one place to another, Munoz said, explaining that’s where the foundation comes in as it seeks to match volunteers who want to help military families.
“So many of these caregivers are independent and resilient,” she said. “Our focus is on the caregivers.”
The foundation is currently working with two families and has another four it hopes to help in the near future.
“Or goal is to supplement what the government is doing,” stressed Munoz.
d’Arenberg and de Grunne were in Prince William recently, where they visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps and wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
“American taxpayers pay a lot of money,” d’Arenberg continued. “That’s your sons and daughters going to the battlefield. With modesty, I try to help them.”
For more information on Azalea Charities, visit its website at azaleacharities.com. For more on the Quality of Life Foundation, visit qolfoundation.org.