Why Support Tend and Mend Foundation?
Because what we tend … mends.
There are no throwaways. Not here, not ever. That’s a truth our very Foundation and every Tend and Mend House is built upon. Because all of us at Tend and Mend believe that wherever we put our attention and energy creates healing. We understand how plants showered with water and sunlight grow. How scraping and painting breathe new life into old wood. How pets who’ve been set out on the street snuggle gratefully when given a blanket and some love. How forgotten folks gain a sense of connection and begin to heal through tending to our gardens and old homes and “fur kid” rescues … and each other.
Our Foundation does what we do because what we tend … mends. And we welcome the abused, the addicted, the disenfranchised. It’s our cause to uplift and empower everyone who’s feeling down and out. It’s our mission to shelter abandoned pets. To fix fixer-uppers. To build communities from scraps and leftovers and odds and ends … using love and gratitude and honor and respect.
No matter your particular challenge or circumstances, we care. Everyone on staff at Tend and Mend is a committed listener, ready to offer encouraging words and helping hands. We are holistic practitioners from all walks of life. Acupuncturists, nurses, naturopaths, and chiropractors. Therapists trained in craniosacral, Reiki, massage, and energy work of all kinds. We all pitch in to offer help and healing to residents, who live among us as they learn uplifting and empowering techniques they can then bring out into the world as they become more confident and caring – toward themselves and others.
In addition to staff and residents, our Tend and Mend community consists of volunteers like practicing and retired professionals and hobbyists who are ready, willing, and able to share their talents and trades. Everyone pitches in for the betterment of all. And out of that devotion, a loving extended family is born and raised and readied to reach out to the next soul struggling to remember its worth.
Because nobody here gets paid … unless we get results.
As an acupuncturist, I hold a deep love for the wisdom Chinese medicine has espoused for centuries. In ancient Asia, a doctor was paid as long as the Emperor and his household remained healthy. Which means being compensated for getting results. And so as founder and CEO of Tend and Mend Foundation, I have made this philosophy one of our bylaws and a founding principle. Everyone on our Board of Directors accepts and approves and abides by this idea that, in order for any of us to be paid, we not only need to be tending to all those who are within our organization and under our care; we also have to prove our effectiveness and how many people, places, and pets we are helping (and how) via data that has been collected, documented, and is easily verifiable.
Because truth, transparency, and trust … matter.
Authenticity and accountability are at the heart of everything we do. In every single thing. Integrity matters here. I require it of myself, and I insist upon it from everyone making up our Board of Directors, our staff, and in fact anyone participating in any way in our programs. I believe implicitly in the sign Harry S. Truman kept on his desk during his White House years: The buck stops here. It’s a phrase he made popular that, in essence, refers to the idea that a leader makes decisions and ultimately needs to take responsibility for those decisions.
At Tend and Mend Foundation, the buck stops here. With me. It’s written into our bylaws that any member of our Board of Directors, our staff, anyone participating in any way in our programs, or anyone at all may call me out personally and directly about any perceived lack of integrity – with any aspect of our program, our finances, our business dealings, our personnel. Or anything else that’s occurring on my watch. Simply drop me a line at jean@tendandmend.org with “Breach Of Trust” as the subject line. I personally review all my emails, and I promise to take seriously any trust issues that are brought to my attention.
Need help? Looking to help out?
Call now: 833-TEND2ME
Whether you are needing a helping hand or looking to lend one, Tend and Mend Foundation welcomes you. Please know you’re just a phone call away from making a difference in your own life or in the lives of many. Call 833-TEND2ME (833-836-3263) today and let us tend to you.
