Welcome to Forum 360.

Thank you for joining us on our global outlook with a local view.

This is Leslie Ungar, your host today.

Mark Twain is attributed with saying kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Today is the second of a two part series on smaller nonprofits making a big impact.

Kindness is a foundation for the first nonprofit that we are going to talk with today.

This co-founder and now executive director of an organization that was founded to extend kindness in a systematic way to people that find themselves alone near the end of their life.

Kindness is a thread that weaves its way through Grace House.

Northeast Ohio is home to thousands of great nonprofits.

Some seem to get more attention than others.

Today we are going to talk with this organization, doing great work that I became aware of just this past year.

Welcome to Holly Klein, co-founder and executive director of Grace House.

- Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me.

- Thank you for being here.

As an executive coach, I have an exercise that I ask my clients to do.

It's called the walk across the room exercise.

- Oh, okay.

- No one likes it, but they learn a lot from it.

- Sure.

- Okay, and this is how it goes.

They actually have to walk across the room as they're doing it.

and the goal is to answer a question in two sentences.

Okay.

- Okay.

- So my first question to you is to ask you to explain your nonprofit's mission in the time it takes to walk across a room.

- Oh, okay.

I can do this.

I can do this.

- Okay.

It's like name that tune.

You know— I couldn't do it in ten.

I can do it in eight.

I can do it in seven.

Do it in two sentences.

- It could be extended sentences, but I can do it.

Grace House Akron is a comfort care home.

We serve terminally ill individuals that are enrolled in a hospice program, and they cannot afford a caregiver, or they don't have access to a caregiver.

- Good job.

- Two sentences, - Two sentences.

But what does it mean they don't have access to a caregiver.

- So hospice benefit is a wonderful benefit.

It's a Medicare created benefit.

And— - And for anyone that might not know, that benefit is what?

It is a benefit that covers end of life care.

So it covers the hospice providers coming in and out.

So, RNs, your hospice physicians, the social workers, the chaplains, the hospice aides.

It also covers all of the medications related to that terminal illness.

But what it doesn't cover is private caregiving or room and board in a nursing home.

So when I talk about access to a caregiver, it's those people who maybe can't afford private caregivers or can't afford room and board in a nursing home.

Because that room and board can be anywhere from 2 to $300 a day, up to 8 or $900.

- So, some of the people at Grace House are people that were living where?

Or how.

- So typically they come to us from the community.

So it can either be they live alone and they're estranged from family.

They don't have that caregiver.

Sometimes it's an elderly couple.

So maybe the spouse can't be a caregiver and they can't afford those private caregivers.

But 50% of the folks we have served experienced homelessness prior to coming to Grace House.

- Now, is homelessness still a word that we use?

- Yes.

- Yes it is.

So it's okay to say homelessness?

- Yes, yep.

Because you're experiencing homelessness.

You'll also hear people say unsheltered.

Typically we don't like to say homeless because that's like a quality for the person, not something they are experiencing.

Yeah.

- Now, is there a difference between when you mentioned hospice, is there a difference between hospice care and palliative care?

- Oh yes there is.

- There is.

- So there is, so palliative care is— - And let me just interrupt you for a moment.

Your training.

You are a nurse.

- I am a nurse.

So you're going to tell us the difference between palliative from a medical standpoint.

- Absolutely.

So I have been a hospice nurse for 17 years.

I've been in RN for 26 years.

It's crazy how time flies.

- Yes, it is.

- So we have a little saying that all hospice is palliative, but palliative is not hospice.

So palliative care is really the treatment of symptoms for a chronic health condition.

- Okay.

If that makes sense.

- Which is not necessarily terminal.

- Correct.

- Got it.

- Once it becomes terminal, it then becomes hospice because hospice you really focus on quality of life and symptom management.

So there's a palliative piece to it, but palliative care does not mean hospice.

- Thank you.

I never knew the difference.

- A lot of people don't.

- Wow.

Okay, thank you.

- You're welcome.

- Now Northeast Ohio I think, is blessed in many ways.

But one way that we are blessed is that we have many, many great nonprofit organizations doing wonderful work.

What differentiates your nonprofit from other nonprofits doing great work?

- Yeah.

So we are the only nonprofit in Summit County providing this mission.

Grace House belongs to a network of homes called the Omega Home Network.

There's about 60 homes in the nation somewhat similar to Grace House.

And I say somewhat similar because we are unique in that there's only three homes in the nation that focus on the population of people that we focus on, and we truly focus on that housing piece.

So we provide housing, 24 hour caregiving and access to basic needs while our hospice providers come in to Grace House and provide the hospice care.

The other thing that makes us really unique is we don't charge our residents for any care.

So we really want to remove barriers and make sure that they'll come.

So any housing, food, clothing that they receive at Grace House is free.

- And before we get into kind of the mechanics of it, they can bring their pets.

- They can, it’s one of my favorites.

Our residents are allowed to bring their pets within reason.

I always joke and say they're furry friends, but then I learned tarantulas have fur.

So now I say four legged furry friends.

- Only four.

But only four.

- I would prefer only four.

I just, if I have to, if we have to feed it live food or frozen food, that might be a little bit of a barrier for our staff and volunteers.

But we have a great partnership with the Humane Society of Summit County, and they will do vet checks, give immunizations for our residents to make sure the pet is healthy and we have volunteers who help us take care of the pets.

- That's wonderful.

Now, I asked about the pets because I'm passionate about animals, about any kind of animal.

But if you task me with raising money for an organization, even that was for animals that I was passionate about, I would be horrible at it.

What is a special skill that is required to raise money?

- You know what, I think at least for Grace House, the secret is the mission.

Every person I talked to has a hospice story.

You know, it might be my brother or my sister or my mom or my dad.

And then the next thing I hear is, I can't imagine what it would be like to be on hospice and go through it alone.

So I think, at least for Grace House, it's an easy sell, right?

Because everybody has a big heart about, oh, I can't imagine how fearful or afraid that would be.

And then I always hear my co-founder, Nick Browning in my head saying, no money, no mission.

You know, it's not my favorite thing to do to ask people for money, but the reality is we don't get government funding.

We can't build Medicare.

We can't build Medicaid.

We operate 100% off of donations.

So if I want to continue Grace House, I got to get comfortable.

- Now, Grace House has been around for how long?

- We opened our doors in 2022.

September of 22.

- Now, so we go back to 2022.

A fund to open up during the pandemic, right?

- Yeah.

So we launched our capital campaign in June of 2020.

So to go back a little bit more, we actually incorporated in 2016.

We became a nonprofit end of 2017.

And then, by the time we acquired land and just really found a location, 2019.

Then the architect had to build a, you know, home design.

Then we got that in June or 2020.

So we're like, gosh, here we are in a pandemic, right?

And we must be crazy to launch a capital campaign.

We thought it was the end of a pandemic, little did we know, it really was just the very beginning.

But we were incredibly successful, and we were able to raise $4 million in about 20 months.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- So let me ask you the financial side part, which is you said no money, no mission, but until 2016 or 2017 or 2020, whatever year you want to take, there.

Until that time, there had not been any place for people experiencing homelessness at the end of their life.

So what did you and or others see that others just didn't see?

- Yeah.

And you know what?

Before I became a hospice nurse, it never crossed my mind.

You know, it was when I first became a nurse going out into people's homes and a home could be a homeless shelter all the way up to $1 million homes or multimillion dollar homes.

It was the people who were estranged from family, living alone or in undignified conditions.

That was, it was just a burden.

Like I carried that.

I had one gentleman who died in a motel and was found three days later.

So I just thought, was he afraid?

Was he short of breath?

Was he in pain?

What was that like?

And just really started talking with people and saying we should do more.

And then I stepped into a management position and saw it happening at a bigger level and just continued those conversations and then met, you know, Cindy and Nick Browning.

They became co-founders, and it just gained momentum from there.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

I think it's something that we, we all see, but we don't think about.

- Right.

- Right?

If you see someone, you know asking for money, we don't think about their health or we don't think about end of life issues, but you did.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

It was just again, that burden of there is so much abundance in our society.

We should do better.

We should care for each other.

Especially when somebody has no one else.

It appears to me that your organization gets less attention.

As I said, there are thousands of nonprofits in Northeast Ohio all doing wonderful work, but some get more attention than others get.

You know, does it feel as though your work is unnoticed?

- No, it doesn't.

I think we are still young enough and new enough that we are still spreading the word.

I am happy to say that now when I go to an event to speak and I say, hey, who's heard of Grace House?

More than half the room is raising.

So what we're doing is working.

So I'm really happy about that.

But I think you're right.

Smaller nonprofits do struggle with awareness.

Definitely.

- Now, you know going into it that you are dealing with a clientele that is at their end of life.

So that's a lot of sadness.

- It can be.

- How do you, you know, how do you keep going?

Like, what inspires you?

- Well I know the alternative is worse.

So for me that's my motivation.

It's one more person not dying alone, not dying on the streets or in a car.

For our volunteers and sometimes our staff, it can be a struggle.

So we work on a lot of self-care and different things to honor our residents.

We do a memorial twice a year.

We have little stones that we can write their names on for a memory and we created a memory wall at Grace House.

Just different ways that we can honor each person.

- Today we are talking with Holly Klein, co-founder and executive director of Grace House.

Your title is executive director.

Yes.

Okay.

You're a woman leading a nonprofit?

As an outsider, okay?

As an executive coach, kind of in a bird's eye see, of different companies.

It seems as though, I know no generalization is true, but it seems as though the nonprofit world is a little more receptive to women in the C-level positions than for the profit world might be.

Your perspective.

- Yeah, I don't disagree with that.

At least in the health care arena and social services, you know, if you talk about nursing, it's predominantly female.

And I just think that for many women were more social justice oriented and that is a natural partner with nonprofit.

- Now, it hasn't been that long since you started, but in some ways, it must seem like it was a million years ago when you were just an idea, right?

- It was just yesterday.

- An idea, now you're a big physical presence, right?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So, you were there when your organization was started.

As you look back, what do you wish that you would have known then that you know now?

- Great question.

You know, I knew going into it that I was going to have to wear a lot of hats.

I never knew I would have to learn about soil samples, how to build a building.

I think one of the best things I could have done, and we did do, was build a strong board that I had all the resources I needed.

I think one of the biggest things I've learned is probably to be kind.

I could have been kinder to myself at times.

You know that imperson— What is it?

Impersonator syndrome.

- Oh, impostor.

- Imposter syndrome.

Yes, that’s it.

Thank you.

Imposter syndrome.

You know, you learn a lot so quickly and just be kind to yourself.

- Now, I have two dogs and usually they're rescues, you know, or they're puppies, but I want my next dog to be an older dog that lost his or her home in some way to new circumstances, not due to their control.

I don't even care if it's like the last year of their life.

I want to give them, you know, a good last year of their life.

But I think there would be a lot of positive to that, but I haven't done that yet.

I think so, but what is something that would surprise us about your work?

- I think for a lot of people, death and dying is intimidating.

But if you come to Grace House, I think many people are surprised because it is so warm and welcoming.

It is truly a home.

So anything you celebrate in your home, we celebrate at Grace House.

We do birthday parties, work anniversaries, volunteer celebrations, resident celebrations.

You hear laughter.

You hear crying.

Anything you experience, we experience.

The only way I can really connect to that.

I was at a funeral one time, and I was close to the casket when it was being lowered into the ground.

And the gentleman who was lowering the casket, his cell phone fell on top of the casket.

And everyone started laughing that could see it, but the people behind us couldn't see it.

And the woman who was being buried was known for always being on the phone.

So we're laughing.

And I said to the clergy afterwards, I'm so sorry, you know, that we were laughing during the service and he said words I've never forgotten.

At every funeral there needs to be laughter and tears.

- Amen.

- So you are telling me that at Grace House you have laughter and tears.

- All the time.

And you know what?

Our residents, it's not that there are— There are few days we have two residents there now that have been there weell, since March.

So we really do become family.

So anything your family experiences, so do we.

We share meals together.

We maybe don't always agree.

- As any family.

- As any family.

You know, but we celebrate each day.

- Now, I would think that some people might think that it's just very sad.

And sometimes we get paralyzed with sad.

- Sure.

- And we think that we can't do anything or we can't do enough, or what we do won't make a difference.

What are some things that people can do?

- Oh, I would say if you have a talent, share it with us.

We have enough volunteer positions.

We have 13 different volunteer positions.

So anything from cooking our kitchen is pretty much 100% volunteer run.

They prepare all of our meals, they help with the meal prep, menu prep, everything there.

From companionship to cleaning.

We have a beautiful courtyard there.

We have a gardening club.

We have a handyman club of one.

- All you need if he’s handy.

- That's right.

We are looking to expand that group.

But animal lovers, and we have a group of residents right now that really love playing cards or different games.

And we have a new little volunteer group coming in every Friday morning, and we see gin rummy or euchre or.

So if there's a talent that can be shared, we would appreciate that.

But also we have an Amazon wishlist and of course always donations.

- Now, you said that you've been a hospice nurse for like 18 years.

17 years of the 26 years that you've been a nurse.

What is something that you do that keeps you inspired?

- I'm always doing some type of self-care.

I journal at different times and I try to change up what I do so it doesn't become rote.

Exercising, yoga is a new thing I'm doing in the mornings.

I found a couple of, like, five minute yoga, and I'm like, oh, this is perfect for a quick morning.

I really love spending time with my family.

And just, we have a dog, wie have a German Shorthaired Pointer, so, he keeps us busy.

- You don't see them very much in— - Beautiful.

They're such good dogs.

He's a little, he's a little wild, but— - Does he point?

- Oh, yes.

- Yes.

- Aways.

- Make sure he can point.

- He points.

- Now, are you, you said that you are 100% self-funded.

- Yeah.

- So are you affected at all by a change in administrations at the city level, at the state level or at the national level?

- So we can be in that when other hnonprofits are losing funding and our foundation dollars or donor dollars are becoming more competitive.

Then yes, we are impacted by that.

- Okay.

- Definitely.

And we were looking at possibly expanding or doing, another location and looking at some HUD funding, and we can't do that anymore, that funding is gone.

It's all dried up.

So, we are impacted just like other nonprofits.

- That's what I was going to ask you if now, you have a two year vision, a five year vision, a 20 year vision, some kind of a vision, what does that look like?

Does that look like more locations?

- So ideally, yes.

What we also would like to look at because we’ve learned a lot of lessons, right?

It's been three years, we've served 135 people majority some type of cancer.

But for those other folks who are maybe heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, when you put them in stable housing, good food, good health care, what do you think happens?

Their health improves.

They can only be at Grace House if they're on hospice.

So if their health improves to the point it's not considered terminal, they have to leave Grace House.

That does not take away their complex medical problems.

We also have people who really need that housing but aren't yet appropriate for hospice.

So we were kind of looking at like, how do we get the same population that we know we're going to come to Grace House or who are ready to leave Grace House?

So that's kind of what we were exploring for some expansion.

And we'll continue to explore.

But right now we just don't have that funding.

What might surprise us?

I can't imagine someone experiencing homelessness.

I cannot imagine just physically, mentally I cannot imagine.

What would surprise us about meeting or talking to someone.

It seems to me they have to have a tenacity that isn't perhaps used in a traditional way, but what might surprise us about how someone ends up experiencing homelessness near the end of their life?

- Their resiliency.

What we see is a common thread, though, among our residents is they are all afraid no one will remember them.

So we always try to work at getting to know them, so we let them know they are seen and that they're heard.

So however we can do that.

We have a resident right now, Tom who we do cookies with Tom.

He hasn't done it in a while, but he's a big history buff.

So he would put together a presentation and volunteers would come in and he was like a history professor.

But what a small act that we could do to make him feel seen and heard.

You know?

- In the couple minutes we have a remaining, I'm going to ask you some questions not so much about Grace House, but about you, so that the audience can get a kind of a feel for Holly Klein and just ask for one or two word answers.

What is the most valuable piece of technology that you use?

- Technology.

I guess, I hate to say it, but I guess my phone.

Because you could use it as a computer, you could, you know?

Yeah, I guess.

- Is there a piece of archaic technology that you still use or would like to still use?

That's my thing that I'd like to still use.

- That's right.

I used to have, you know, my curly hair.

You can't imagine it being curlier.

But what is the diffuser on the end of the?

I used to have the perfect one.

And it broke.

- I get it, girls and their curly hair.

- And it broke.

- As a fan, I'm a fan of Northeast Ohio.

I assume you're a fan of Northeast Ohio.

Your favorite season?

- Fall.

- Fall.

Wow, okay.

- Yes, I love it.

- Your favorite destination in Ohio?

Is there a favorite Ohio destination?

Or a favorite destination outside of Ohio?

- Well, you know what I would say locally, I love Himelright Lodge, like, that park and that trail.

It's my favorite in the Metro Parks.

- Is there a hidden jewel?

Could be a restaurant.

It could be, you know, a dive it could be— - Just one?

There are so many good restaurants in the area.

- Give me three quickly.

- Okay, Hoppin’ Frog.

- Okay.

And where is Hoppin’ Frog?

Hoppin’ Frog is over 224 over by the Airdock.

- Okay.

- It’s like this great little brewery.

They have fantastic food.

You didn't know you'd hear it?

- You didn't know you'd hear it when we were talking about Grace House.

Anne Frank wrote in her famous diary, you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness.

Our guest today shared with us what kindness looks like to those whose life took them in directions that led them to being alone at life's end.

I'm Leslie Ungar, thank you to Holly Klein, Grace House, for joining us today on Forum 360 for a global outlook with a local view.

Forum 360 is brought to you by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, the Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and Forum 360 supporters.