The Value of Connections…

 Meeting women when and where they are with traditions, health education, empowering conversations, and warming hearts.

Faces and Voices

HOCC-on-the-Go: Faces and Voices:

April 2020 brought the opportunity for HOCC to create a new initiative when the COVID pandemic broke: we developed a monthly mail package called HOCC-on-the-Go. HOCC-on-the-Go enabled us to maintain our monthly traditions of health education, empowering conversations, and warming hearts, and it carried us 25 months forward, until May 2022. The objective of our initiative  was to help keep HOCC women safe, informed and connected while they were isolated in their homes.  Each month, nearly 100 HOCC women across Massachusetts and beyond received a teal-colored bag delivered to their homes on the second Monday of each month and in it, they found the essence of HOCC. The  challenge was to connect the women to each other, enhance their experiences, capture their smiles, and share their wisdom as they always did when in-person at HOCC.  As the world was closing, HOCC opened its website doors  with a new page dedicated to our HOCC sisters called HOCC-on-the-Go: Faces and Voices. To see, hear, and learn more about HOCC’s pictorial and chronological journey during COVID, click on this link:  https://hoccprograms.org/gallery/

Lessons learned from HOCC-on-the-Go were about the importance of social connections and their positive impact  on women’s health and wellness during the COVID pandemic.  These strong social connections proved to be deeply linked to an increased chance of longevity, a better immune system, and less loneliness.   HOCC principles have always been to promote connections, enhance relational experiences, and share women’s stories and wisdom with one another. Now with the COVID pandemic in the shadows, HOCC continues the  journey forward again with monthly in-person and bi-monthly virtual programming.

Faces and Voices Part Two—The Journey Continues:

In 2024, women may still be hesitating to return to large gatherings, or they may have a new job with different hours, or they may have new responsibilities helping with grandchildren or caring for aging family members. Still, no matter what, they will find their seats on the second Monday of each month at HOCC.  The combination of in-person and bi-monthly virtual health and wellness programming provides choices for staying connected to HOCC women. Our website will also help us meet women when and where they are whether at work, home, or at the Old South Church – HOCC’s home on that second Monday.

Today, we are reformatting our website so that women can see a recap of HOCC programming and guest speaker materials at any time, day or night. There, they will find all program handouts to read or download, more notes from the monthly program or the specific Zoom they are looking for, and links for useful resources.  There, too, they will find their own and their friends’ voices—voices of those who have attended the program in question and have filled out the program feedback form. And the fun part: there are views of the speaker and the faces in the room. This new web page is called Faces and Voices Part Two—The Journey Continues. To see, hear, and learn more about HOCC’s current programming, see https://hoccprograms.org/hoccs-faces-and-voices-part-two-the-journey-continues/