Caring for caregivers - Our Story

I didn't set out to start a nonprofit. I set out to take care of my mother. Her name was Phyllis Klein, and she was the kind of person who made you feel like the most important one in the room. When she got sick, I learned that loving someone and caring for someone are two very different things, and that the second one can quietly take everything out of you.

In 2003, my mother was diagnosed with metastatic malignant melanoma. I was her son, and I became her caregiver. Nobody hands you a manual for that. One day you're just somebody's kid, and the next you're managing appointments, learning words you never wanted to know, and trying to be strong for the person who spent your whole life being strong for you.

I'll be honest about where I started: I felt completely alone, and at first I had no idea what I was doing. There was no one pointing me toward help, no one who'd been through it sitting beside me saying here's what comes next. I figured it out as I went, because I loved her and there wasn't another choice.

The hardest part came at the end. Watching my mother suffer, watching the disease take more from her than I could give back, is something that stays with you. You hold it together for them during the day, and then you carry it alone at night. I think a lot of caregivers know exactly what that feels like, and almost none of us ever say it out loud.

That's the thing that got to me, looking back. Not just how hard it was, but how alone it felt. There were resources out there somewhere, but no one led me to them. There were other people on the same road, probably nearby, and we never found each other. It shouldn't be that hard to get help when you're the one giving all the help.

So I started Caring for Caregivers, in her memory.

The idea is simple. The people who hold everyone else together deserve to be held together too. Not with a pamphlet and a pat on the back, but with real support across the things that actually break down when you're caregiving: your mental health, your finances, your skills, and your sense of belonging to something. That's why we built the organization around four pillars: Mind, Financial, Growth, and Belonging. Each one exists because I needed it and couldn't find it.

I'm not doing this from the outside looking in. I sat in that chair. I know what it's like to feel scared and out of answers and like the only person nobody's checking on is you. That's exactly why I believe we can build something that helps, because it's being built by someone who lived it, for people living it now.

My mother taught me that it's better to give than to receive, and to always pay it forward. This is me doing that, in the only way that feels big enough to match what she meant to me.

We're early. We're growing. And we're looking for people who get it.

If you're a caregiver, you're who we're here for. Come find your people. If you've been one, your experience is worth more than you know, and we'd love for you to walk alongside someone just starting down the road you already know. And if you want to help, there's a place for you here too.

No one should lose their own well-being, dignity, or hope in the process of giving care. That's the whole reason this exists. I hope you'll join us.

Matt Klein, Founder

Caring for Caregivers · Pittsburgh, PA

In memory of Phyllis Klein