Category: Newsletter

Dick Otto, a board member and dedicated volunteer with CHHC, is proud to lead this match.

CoMoGives is a month-long online giving campaign (Dec 1–31) that allows donors to support local nonprofits, with 100% of each gift going directly to the organization. This year, your CoMoGives donation can make a meaningful impact on the compassionate end-of-life care provided at Caring Hearts & Hands of Columbia.

Thanks to the leadership of Dick and Donna Otto, the first $1,000 donated will be matched dollar-for-dollar, doubling your impact.

Gifts can be made online through our CoMoGives link on our website. Every donation is tax-deductible and directly supports our no-cost care.

Your support this December helps ensure we can continue offering dignity, comfort, and peace to the families we serve as we look ahead to 2026.

Join us December 1–31, and especially on Giving Tuesday, December 2, to help continue this vital work.

Among the evening’s voices was Brad Young, owner of TigerTown Home Improvement, whose personal experience drives his dedication to CHHC.

Brad reflected on the peaceful passing of his grandfather, cared for at home by family.

“Pure peace and love filled the room,” he shared. “I supported this mission because they provide a home — a final, peaceful place,  just like what my grandfather had.”

As a Lighthouse Sponsor, Brad helps ensure families without medical professionals in their circle can still experience compassionate, dignified end-of-life care.

He also expressed gratitude to the CHHC team:
“Thank you — you’re giving this community a gift of immeasurable value.”

Executive Director Deanna echoed this:
“Brad shares our vision to give those facing the end of life the care and dignity everyone deserves.”

With partners like Brad and TigerTown Home Improvement, CHHC continues bringing peace, compassion, and dignity to families. 

Event raised more than $30,000

This year’s Lights for Love luminary event was a meaningful evening of remembrance and community. Supporters, families, volunteers, and friends gathered to honor loved ones and celebrate the compassionate mission of Caring Hearts & Hands of Columbia.

Thanks to our community’s generosity, the event raised just over $30,000, including $3,365 from luminary dedications. Nearly 500 individuals were honored through the glowing luminaries, including every guest who passed in our home.

The event served as a powerful reminder of neighbors supporting neighbors. As one staff member shared, “Our community came together to honor those who came before us and support people’s transition out of this life.” Another attendee reflected, “This event gives our community a safe space to pause and practice grief together.”

We are deeply grateful to everyone who dedicated a luminary, donated, volunteered, or attended. Your compassion ensures we can continue providing comfort, dignity, and peace to our guests and their families.

At the Lights for Love memorial, families and community members light a luminary in memory of their own loved ones. Together, we’ll reflect, celebrate lives, and find comfort in shared stories and music.

Whether this is your first time or you have done this before, the magic of the night remains: each flickering light offers a moment to pause, remember, and heal. With live musical performances, gentle reflection, and a welcoming spirit, this event is more than a memorial—it’s a community embrace.

For just $20, you can dedicate a luminary in your loved one’s name—lighting their memory in a beautiful and lasting way. All proceeds support Caring Hearts & Hands’ mission to provide compassionate, end-of-life care and caregiver support in our community.

Come walk amongst the lights. Share your memories. Be part of a gathering that reminds us of how deeply love endures.

As a founding sponsor, Missouri Cancer Associates (MCA) was integral to making our end-of-life home—and Lights for Love—a reality. MCA didn’t just see our vision—they embraced it wholeheartedly. Before we had walls, beds, or even a house, they saw the heart of our mission and chose to stand beside us.

That early belief turned into an extraordinary commitment: $20,000 per year for five years—a nearly an impactful investment in personalized, community-centered hospice and palliative care. It wasn’t just financial—it was deeply personal.

Today, as we continue to grow and serve, we do so on a foundation built in part by MCA’s vision, generosity, and trust. Their leadership has helped create something lasting—not only in bricks and mortar, but in the lives touched and comfort given.

To everyone at Missouri Cancer Associates: thank you. You were among the first to believe. You continue to walk beside us. And because of your commitment, families across mid-Missouri know they are not alone.

When Sharyn Cole Eubanks entered the final chapter of her life, her family sought more than just care—they sought a place of peace, love, and dignity. They found that at Caring Hearts and Hands of Columbia (CHHC). 

Sharyn lived her life with quiet strength, dignity, and a commitment to helping others. Even in her professional career as a psychiatric aide, she healed not just with her hands, but with her heart.In her final days on earth, Sharyn was wrapped in the care of the CHHC team. According to her daughter Stacey Robertson, who wrote a note to the CHHC staff,

Words seem inadequate to express my gratitude for the services, care, and support you all provided my Mom.” Stacey described how her mother instantly felt “cared for, respected, and loved,” and how CHHC became more than a facility: it became family. Stacey recalled how her mother lit up from the connections she made in those last days. 

Stacey was especially moved by the way the CHHC team cared not only for her mother but for her as well. “You supported me, an only child,” she wrote. “A setting like CHHC is what everyone deserves at the end of life on this side of heaven.”

The staff didn’t just perform their duties, they held space for Sharyn’s spirit. They listened, supported, and created an environment of peace, which every visitor deeply felt. “All of our visitors felt the love,” Stacey wrote. “Love gives strength to overcome any challenge.”

In honor of that care and her legacy of love the family has invited memorial donations to CHHC, so others may receive the same compassionate send-off.

Stacey closed her letter with gratitude: “Thank you CHHC for loving my Mom into eternity, her Heavenly Home.”

Recently, our very own Executive Director Deanna Vander Weerd and Board Member Deb Portell were on The Daily Blend with AC talking about CHHC and the upcoming 2025 Lights for Love Luminary Event, a heartfelt community gathering to honor loved ones. They shared how this year’s indoor event will feature art and music to allow for reflection and celebration for those impacted by illness and loss.