| AIDS Care Team® Projects, based on the Interfaith CarePartners model, were created after 1986 in many cities throughout the United States. In 1995, Interfaith CarePartners staff began to assist health care agencies in other states to develop a Care Team® program.
Care Team® volunteers are recruited from Jewish and Christian congregations in Houston and surrounding cities. Interfaith CarePartners trains Care Team® members to provide companionship, meal preparation, transportation, light household chores and shopping assistance, spiritual, emotional, and physical support, and personal care to adults and children with debilitating illnesses and disabilities. Care Team® volunteers may be subdivided into care circles each of which is assigned to a care partner (client) family. The size of the care circle depends on the intensity of need and frequency of service required by the family being served.
Development of intergenerational Care Team® ministries is a growing emphasis in the Care Team® program. Each Care Team® project may consist of families who serve together as a unit in support of their care partners. The intergenerational approach is proving especially effective in the Alzheimer's Care Team project®, begun in 1992, and the Second Family Care Team® project, begun in 1994.
In addition to supporting members of their congregations, many Care Team® members care for families in their neighborhoods who do not have a congregational relationship or whose congregation does not have a Care Team®. In this way, the entire community benefits from the services of trained volunteers.
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