Boundaries.
Boundaries–It’s a word filled with lots of expectations and hopes–especially when one thinks about it within the context of caregiving. It is easy to understand the boundary of a property line–a fence, a sidewalk, or even a gate. It is, however, much more difficult to understand and navigate emotional boundaries surrounding caregiving. Brené Brown, social […]
When a ZCP Staff Member Finds Herself in the Role of Family Caregiver
The recent call came on a Sunday night around 11:00 pm from my mother’s cell phone. Except it wasn’t my mother on the other end–it was a friend of hers. “Hi, Sarah, this is Pat, and I’m in the ER with your mom, and it’s not good.” Six hours later I was on a flight […]
Heidi Hartsough’s journey from the Peace Corps to ZCP Volunteer
Heidi Hartsough lights up a room when she steps into it. Her smile, even when talking about grief and loss, is ever present, and when she talks about her volunteer work with Zen Caregiving Project (ZCP), an easiness and lightness appear. In many ways, Heidi has been called to ZCP as a volunteer at Laguna […]
Collaboration in Action: ZCP Volunteers and Curry Senior Center
The streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district can appear to be a cacophony of poverty and human suffering: crowded, dirty streets, the occasional smell of urine and feces, a barefoot person huddled on the sidewalk, their meager belongings strewn about them, tents, open drug use. For some, with nowhere else to go, the street is […]
A Volunteer Caregiver at the Cadillac Hotel Finds Meaning in the Tenderloin
John Ungvarsky is a thoughtful, contemplative environmental scientist who retired from the Environmental Protection Agency in August 2022, and in October 2022 he began his training at Zen Caregiving Project to become a volunteer caregiver at the Cadillac Hotel in the Tenderloin. “Anybody who has spent time in San Francisco is aware of the Tenderloin,” […]
