How It Works
What problems does Angel Registy address?
Most of us have experienced the crisis of a friend or loved one suddenly unable to function as they had for their family or themselves. Perhaps it's a debilitating illness, or post-surgery rehabilitation necessitating weeks or months of bed rest. Maybe it's a complicated pregnancy or a cancer diagnosis requiring frequent chemotherapy appointments. In many instances of acute medical crisis or long-term family caregiving, those affected must also cope with quickly finding support for meal preparation, grocery shopping, transportation for themselves and their dependent family members.
But it is often difficult for patients and family caregivers to ask for help. And if help is offered, managing that help can be a significant part-time job: coordinating family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and church or synagogue members who do not all know each other can be complex and time-consuming, with endless phone tag, too much food delivered, and forgotten commitments. In addition, keeping these various ‘circles of community’ up-to-date on medical progress or family activity, or securely sharing vital medical, legal, or financial information with designated family members is often another source of anxiety and stress for the patient and family caregiver.
Let your Angel Registry community help build emotional and spiritual support as you face the many issues surrounding everyday caregiving.
What does Angel Registry provide?
In literally minutes, a Coordinator can create, free-of-charge, a private and secure Angel Registry web community, define volunteer activities using the supplied templates, and begin inviting members to the community. Through an intuitive interface that requires no training, volunteers can then easily view and sign up for any number of available tasks, and review their current commitments
Community members also have access to the community’s private message boards, photo galleries, resource sections for sharing relevant web links and documents, and even a Well Wishes wall. By adding applications to to the page any number of custom community sections can be created by the Coordinators to enrich the flow and sharing of information within the community, keeping all members, near and far ‘in the loop’.
Who should sign up and create the web site? What's a "Coordinator"?
The Coordinator is what we call the person who first takes the initiative to create the free-of-charge Angel Registry community. This lead Coordinator helps define the volunteer activities, and has a few other privileges for customizing the community web site.
Anyone can be a Coordinator, but it's usually a close friend or family member of someone undergoing medical treatment or of someone requiring respite from long-term family caregiving responsibilities. Or perhaps the Coordinators are the adult children of aging parents, or a close friend of someone experiencing some other life crisis, or even someone who has the responsibility for coordinating the activities of some other type of volunteer group (Schools, Clubs, etc). Coordinators can maintain membership information for other members, post new needs on the calendar, and receive auto-generated confirmation emails when someone volunteers for a task.
Coordinators can also easily create new custom sections within the community by adding apps to address the specific needs and make-up of the community, including journals and blogs, photo albums, message boards, and donation options. The community-building capabilities are only limited by the imagination.
In short, Coordinators are the people who would otherwise be arranging these same activities by hand, enduring a lot of email and phone tag.
I would love to help out. How do I volunteer?
To volunteer for an Angel Registry member first sign up to become a member then search for the person or communities name in our "Find a Friend" page. Once you find the profile you will be able to write messages, donate money, sign up for activities and communicate with other "Friends" who want to help.
DONATE $$ MONEY $$ Donate money directly to your friend in need by using our Social Giving by Pinc application to raise money for doctor bills, funeral expenses, living costs, etc..
GIFT GIVING Order online using the links on the right side of our site and have flowers, gift baskets or household necessities delivered right to their door.
By clicking on our links for flowers, gifts, groceries, etc...our Community Partners will share 5-12% of each purchase made through our site with us to ensure that we will able to offer this service free of charge to those in need.
VOLUNTEER CALENDAR Each registry has a interactive calendar where friends and family can sign up to drop off home cooked meals, volunteer to help with child care, arrange transportation to doctor appointments...and so on.
WELL WISHERS BOARD Post encouraging words of support on your friends Registry by signing up to become a member. Membership enables you to sign up to volunteer, chat live with other friends who want to help, and access to the Well Wisher's Board. To be able to post comments on a friend's Registry you first must join our community by creating your own page. You can simply state that you are to hear to help a friend in the main text box - add your photo - and explore the different ways to communicate with your loved one's community. You can invite others to join and chat live with each other about plans and arrangements to volunteer.
How do I invite members to the web site?
Coordinators can invite members to the community by entering their names and email addresses - the system will automatically send out welcome notification emails with instructions for signing in. Alternatively, the community’s web address can be shared with would-be members when existing members click on the ‘tell-a-friend’ link to notify other people they know who might be interested in joining the community. Following the link allows these prospective members to send a "Friend Request" to the community coordinators who can then easily approve or deny membership to the pending member, without having any additional data entry burden.
The simplicity of Angel Registry makes it easy for Coordinators to add volunteers from the various social circles that often make up caregiving or volunteer communities, creating a single web site community that can support the person, family, or organization in need.
How does a family let its needs be known?
Once the community web site is set up, the Angel Registry system quickly and easily guides Coordinators through the creation of new activities using on-screen pre-defined template forms.
For example, the request to receive weekday dinners would specify the desired days and times, dietary restrictions, and delivery instructions. Or if a family requires transportation, they can easily specify pick-up and drop-off times, locations and appointment durations.
Angel Registry relieves the awkwardness of personally asking for help in each instance of need. And once a member signs up for a task, the community web site shows that task as assigned, thereby avoiding overlap of efforts, wasted meals, and confusion.
How do volunteers know what is needed?
Once a member has been added to the community, he or she can sign in and view the community Calendar where tasks have been posted by the Coordinators. The Calendar allows members to determine at-a-glance on which days tasks still require volunteers, which days all needs have been met, and which days the member has events.
Volunteers can sign up for any number of tasks with the assurance that emails will automatically be posted, to inform both the family in need and the Coordinators. In addition signing up for tasks, community members can also have the option of contributing a post to any of the community bulletin boards, resource sections, or to the Well Wishes wall.
How will a family know what is being provided, and by whom?
The community Calendar displays the names of the members who have signed up for any specific task.
What if I need to change my commitment?
If a community member needs to change a commitment, they can contact a Coordinator via Angel Registry. The system is designed to let a Coordinator easily cancel or reassign a task, freeing it up for another volunteer to fill.
I share an email address with my family members. Can I still participate?
Even if you share an email address with others, you can still volunteer. You just need to make sure your "address buddies" know what you're up to, as you do with all your other email. (We don't recommend that Coordinators share email addresses, because of the greater potential for confusion if an email is missed.) It is also possible to sign in as a member of a Angel Registry community even if you don’t have an email address. In this case, a Coordinator still needs to enter your name into the community, but another member must be designated as the ‘responsible’ member who will receive email reminders for you and contact you directly.
What's the catch? How can this service be free?
By clicking on the links on our site for flowers, gifts, groceries, etc...our Community Partners will share 5-12% of each purchase made through our site with us to ensure that we will be able to offer this service free of charge to those in need. .
Looking for more information?
If you'd like additional information, or you have questions that aren't answered on this page, please contact us by sending email to info@angelregistry.org
Most of us have experienced the crisis of a friend or loved one suddenly unable to function as they had for their family or themselves. Perhaps it's a debilitating illness, or post-surgery rehabilitation necessitating weeks or months of bed rest. Maybe it's a complicated pregnancy or a cancer diagnosis requiring frequent chemotherapy appointments. In many instances of acute medical crisis or long-term family caregiving, those affected must also cope with quickly finding support for meal preparation, grocery shopping, transportation for themselves and their dependent family members.
But it is often difficult for patients and family caregivers to ask for help. And if help is offered, managing that help can be a significant part-time job: coordinating family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and church or synagogue members who do not all know each other can be complex and time-consuming, with endless phone tag, too much food delivered, and forgotten commitments. In addition, keeping these various ‘circles of community’ up-to-date on medical progress or family activity, or securely sharing vital medical, legal, or financial information with designated family members is often another source of anxiety and stress for the patient and family caregiver.
Let your Angel Registry community help build emotional and spiritual support as you face the many issues surrounding everyday caregiving.
What does Angel Registry provide?
In literally minutes, a Coordinator can create, free-of-charge, a private and secure Angel Registry web community, define volunteer activities using the supplied templates, and begin inviting members to the community. Through an intuitive interface that requires no training, volunteers can then easily view and sign up for any number of available tasks, and review their current commitments
Community members also have access to the community’s private message boards, photo galleries, resource sections for sharing relevant web links and documents, and even a Well Wishes wall. By adding applications to to the page any number of custom community sections can be created by the Coordinators to enrich the flow and sharing of information within the community, keeping all members, near and far ‘in the loop’.
Who should sign up and create the web site? What's a "Coordinator"?
The Coordinator is what we call the person who first takes the initiative to create the free-of-charge Angel Registry community. This lead Coordinator helps define the volunteer activities, and has a few other privileges for customizing the community web site.
Anyone can be a Coordinator, but it's usually a close friend or family member of someone undergoing medical treatment or of someone requiring respite from long-term family caregiving responsibilities. Or perhaps the Coordinators are the adult children of aging parents, or a close friend of someone experiencing some other life crisis, or even someone who has the responsibility for coordinating the activities of some other type of volunteer group (Schools, Clubs, etc). Coordinators can maintain membership information for other members, post new needs on the calendar, and receive auto-generated confirmation emails when someone volunteers for a task.
Coordinators can also easily create new custom sections within the community by adding apps to address the specific needs and make-up of the community, including journals and blogs, photo albums, message boards, and donation options. The community-building capabilities are only limited by the imagination.
In short, Coordinators are the people who would otherwise be arranging these same activities by hand, enduring a lot of email and phone tag.
I would love to help out. How do I volunteer?
To volunteer for an Angel Registry member first sign up to become a member then search for the person or communities name in our "Find a Friend" page. Once you find the profile you will be able to write messages, donate money, sign up for activities and communicate with other "Friends" who want to help.
DONATE $$ MONEY $$ Donate money directly to your friend in need by using our Social Giving by Pinc application to raise money for doctor bills, funeral expenses, living costs, etc..
GIFT GIVING Order online using the links on the right side of our site and have flowers, gift baskets or household necessities delivered right to their door.
By clicking on our links for flowers, gifts, groceries, etc...our Community Partners will share 5-12% of each purchase made through our site with us to ensure that we will able to offer this service free of charge to those in need.
VOLUNTEER CALENDAR Each registry has a interactive calendar where friends and family can sign up to drop off home cooked meals, volunteer to help with child care, arrange transportation to doctor appointments...and so on.
WELL WISHERS BOARD Post encouraging words of support on your friends Registry by signing up to become a member. Membership enables you to sign up to volunteer, chat live with other friends who want to help, and access to the Well Wisher's Board. To be able to post comments on a friend's Registry you first must join our community by creating your own page. You can simply state that you are to hear to help a friend in the main text box - add your photo - and explore the different ways to communicate with your loved one's community. You can invite others to join and chat live with each other about plans and arrangements to volunteer.
How do I invite members to the web site?
Coordinators can invite members to the community by entering their names and email addresses - the system will automatically send out welcome notification emails with instructions for signing in. Alternatively, the community’s web address can be shared with would-be members when existing members click on the ‘tell-a-friend’ link to notify other people they know who might be interested in joining the community. Following the link allows these prospective members to send a "Friend Request" to the community coordinators who can then easily approve or deny membership to the pending member, without having any additional data entry burden.
The simplicity of Angel Registry makes it easy for Coordinators to add volunteers from the various social circles that often make up caregiving or volunteer communities, creating a single web site community that can support the person, family, or organization in need.
How does a family let its needs be known?
Once the community web site is set up, the Angel Registry system quickly and easily guides Coordinators through the creation of new activities using on-screen pre-defined template forms.
For example, the request to receive weekday dinners would specify the desired days and times, dietary restrictions, and delivery instructions. Or if a family requires transportation, they can easily specify pick-up and drop-off times, locations and appointment durations.
Angel Registry relieves the awkwardness of personally asking for help in each instance of need. And once a member signs up for a task, the community web site shows that task as assigned, thereby avoiding overlap of efforts, wasted meals, and confusion.
How do volunteers know what is needed?
Once a member has been added to the community, he or she can sign in and view the community Calendar where tasks have been posted by the Coordinators. The Calendar allows members to determine at-a-glance on which days tasks still require volunteers, which days all needs have been met, and which days the member has events.
Volunteers can sign up for any number of tasks with the assurance that emails will automatically be posted, to inform both the family in need and the Coordinators. In addition signing up for tasks, community members can also have the option of contributing a post to any of the community bulletin boards, resource sections, or to the Well Wishes wall.
How will a family know what is being provided, and by whom?
The community Calendar displays the names of the members who have signed up for any specific task.
What if I need to change my commitment?
If a community member needs to change a commitment, they can contact a Coordinator via Angel Registry. The system is designed to let a Coordinator easily cancel or reassign a task, freeing it up for another volunteer to fill.
I share an email address with my family members. Can I still participate?
Even if you share an email address with others, you can still volunteer. You just need to make sure your "address buddies" know what you're up to, as you do with all your other email. (We don't recommend that Coordinators share email addresses, because of the greater potential for confusion if an email is missed.) It is also possible to sign in as a member of a Angel Registry community even if you don’t have an email address. In this case, a Coordinator still needs to enter your name into the community, but another member must be designated as the ‘responsible’ member who will receive email reminders for you and contact you directly.
What's the catch? How can this service be free?
By clicking on the links on our site for flowers, gifts, groceries, etc...our Community Partners will share 5-12% of each purchase made through our site with us to ensure that we will be able to offer this service free of charge to those in need. .
Looking for more information?
If you'd like additional information, or you have questions that aren't answered on this page, please contact us by sending email to info@angelregistry.org
© 2012 Created by Katie McGinty Alomia.
