12/17/2025
It has come to our attention that the yearly mailing, the Friend Drive (formerly known as the Annual Appeal) has not been delivered to many of our long time donors. We would like to apologize to those of you who look for our letter each year, and thank you for your continued generosity and support.
Please see below for a copy of the letter that was sent out this year. Donations can be made on our website, www.keukacomfortcarehome.org, in person at the home, or by mailing a check to PO Box 107 Penn Yan, NY 14527. As always, your kind words and warm thoughts are always appreciated.
Keuka Comfort Care Home thrives on two things: community and growth. Through continued donations by friends like you, we are able to continue to achieve both of these while still providing high quality end of life care at no cost. A donation of any size is appreciated and meaningful. As a friend to KCCH, we thank you and the effort that you put into the home and its mission. With the help of your support, we have served a total of 426 residents since opening our doors, 29 residents in 2025 alone. Of those 29 residents, 75% were local to Yates County.
We would like to take a moment to update you on staffing changes at Keuka Comfort Care Home. Karen Walker, who had led KCCH with dedication and compassion since 2022, has left to pursue new opportunities. We thank Karen for all her hard work and the talents that she brought with her during her time here, and wish her the best in her new endeavors. Former Director, Donna Nielsen is now back in the Executive Director position. We are pleased to welcome Donna back, and know that the home is in good hands.
2025 saw a year of change at KCCH, but one thing has remained steady: Community. One local girl has made it her goal to give back while learning important financial lessons to support her future. At the end of summer, we were contacted by the mother of Ava Helstrom. Ava had started a business making and selling friendship bracelets. At the end of the summer, she decided to put the proceeds into savings for college with one exception: she donated a portion to Keuka Comfort Care Home. The thoughtfulness and generosity of this young lady is inspiring. She exemplifies the care and compassion towards her community that we embody, and we thank her for thinking of us. Ava and her bracelets can be found on Facebook by searching for Ava’s Outstanding Bracelets.
The second quality important to us here at KCCH is growth. We are always looking for new ways to enhance the care that we give to our residents. Through the year, we hold many training sessions welcoming new volunteer caregivers. We host refresher courses for all current volunteers and recently welcomed the medical director of UR Home Hospice to speak to our volunteer caregivers about end-of-life care. One volunteer, JoAnn Colvin, has grown her knowledge and skill and became a certified End of Life Doula. JoAnn says:
“I have been a volunteer caregiver at KCCH since January of 2018. I knew this was a calling for me after caring for my husband the last year of his life and helping when I could, doing small tasks for other residents of his care home. I knew I wanted a deeper relationship with residents at our Care Home, so when COVID struck, I took advantage of our down time to take an online course to be certified as an End-of-Life Doula (in actuality, there is no legal certification required, but many educational sites offer private certification programs).
So, what is an End-of-Life Doula? The definition is “a non-medical companion who provides emotional, spiritual and practical support to individuals and their families as they approach death”. Doulas may help with advance care planning, provide companionship and education during the dying process, and offer comfort to the dying person and their loved ones. The Doula is a complementary role to hospice and medical care and hopes to help the person’s holistic wellbeing by supporting their wishes for the end of life. Doulas offer emotional and spiritual support, practical assistance, caregiver support and respite, physical comfort, advocacy, and post-death family support.
Death is an event. Dying is a process. The Doula is there for the resident until the end.”
Donations to Keuka Comfort Care Home come in many forms. Hundreds of volunteer hours are given each year in the form of hands-on care to the residents we serve, support and care of their families, housekeeping, lawn care and landscaping, fundraising, and so much more. If there is a skill you have to share, we have room for you here. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please contact us at volcoord@keukacomfortcarehome.org.
We appreciate that you have many options in supporting your community. We thank you for considering making a donation to Keuka Comfort Care Home this season. Thanks to donations like yours, we are able to continue to provide quality, compassionate end-of-life care, free of charge. We encourage you to visit us in person, on our page, or at our website, keukacomfortcarehome.org.
