Dead Serious News: Giving Tuesday Update and More

Thank you for your Support

The end of year is a stressful time for small nonprofits like ours. It’s the busiest time of the year for donations, and an important predictor of our financial health for the upcoming year. So from Giving Tuesday through the end of year, I sit on a few pins and needles hoping for the kind of financial support we need to not just continue our current programs, but to reach more people and increase our efforts to pass critical legislation. And this year was a difficult one for many nonprofits. The economy, the election and the myriad of worthy causes fighting for your valuable dollars, makes it a scary time to be running an organization like ours.

But you came through, and continue to do so! We have already matched the donations from last year at this time, and we know of several more donations in process that will put us in good financial health for the time being. Obviously, it’s a never ending concern and we will continue to need funding all year, but I wanted to take this moment and thank all of you that donated in 2024, and especially to those of you that increased your donation from the year before. We had a record number of new donors in December as well, which tells us that more people are learning about our mission, and care about it enough to support it. And we promise you we will use every penny to educate, advocate and support people at the end of their lives.

In the next few weeks, we will be publishing our annual report which will highlight some of the successes we enjoyed in 2023-24 and we will also be sharing some big news about some upcoming projects we have been working on which will bring a tremendous amount of awareness to Medical Aid in Dying, which is our highest priority in 2025.

Thank you again for all of your support. I hope to meet many of you in 2025 as we work together to improve the lives of all New Yorkers!

Mandi Zucker, LSW
Executive Director

Ask Us Anything

Q: How are we addressing Dementia and end of life in our advocacy efforts?

A: At the request of End of Life Choices New York, legislation which we helped to craft, has been introduced in New York that would clarify the legitimacy of directives concerning voluntarily stopping eating and drinking. If enacted, it could benefit many New Yorkers nearing the end of life, particularly those with dementia.

Current New York law provides that “an agent shall have the authority to make any and all health care decisions on the principal’s behalf that the principal could make.” (Pub. Health L. 2982) But “health care” is defined as “any treatment, service or procedure to diagnose or treat an individual’s physical or mental condition.” (Pub. Health L. 2980)

A bill introduced in early January 2025, S.B.350, would amend this definition of “health care” to clarify that it includes “hydration and nutrition.” That way, an agent could, consistent with a patient’s prior recorded wishes, direct that caregivers stop hand/spoon feeding of the individual when certain conditions (often those associated with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s) are satisfied.

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