Push for Love: Caring for the People Who Care for Everyone Else

Behind every person who needs care, there is often someone quietly doing the caring.

It may be a mother caring for a child with unique needs. It may be a husband or wife caring for a spouse. It may be an adult child watching the roles of life reverse as an aging parent begins to depend on them. Whatever the circumstance, caregiving can become a 24-hour responsibility—physically demanding, emotionally exhausting and, at times, incredibly lonely.

But who cares for the caregiver?

That question sits at the heart of Push for Love, the nonprofit organization founded by

Sister Kimarie and inspired by her own journey as the mother of a son born at just 1 pound, 4 ounces who developed cerebral palsy. For Sister Kimarie, what began as a personal assignment eventually revealed a much larger purpose.

She understood firsthand the responsibilities that come with caring for someone you love. She also understood something that many caregivers rarely admit aloud: you can love someone completely and still become tired. You can be strong and still need somewhere to exhale. You can have faith in God and still need the support of people who understand what you are carrying. That understanding became Push for Love.

More Than a Retreat

Push for Love supports parents of children with unique needs and caregivers from different walks of life. Its annual retreat creates something that can be difficult for caregivers to find in everyday life—a safe space where they don't have to explain why they're tired. They can simply breathe.

Sister Kimarie said some participants have told her they didn't realize how badly they needed the retreat until they arrived.

For a few hours, the person who is normally responsible for everybody else gets permission to receive.

Participants can talk with people facing similar responsibilities, release emotions without judgment, experience therapeutic activities and simply step outside of the daily routine of caregiving.

Sometimes that means laughter. Sometimes it means tears.

Sometimes it means finally being able to exhale.

Healing the Person Behind the Responsibility

Each Push for Love gathering incorporates activities intended to nurture the mind, body and spirit. Sister Kimarie has brought in experiences including sound-bath therapy, meditation, Tai Chi, raindrop therapy and motivational speakers.

The most recent retreat also included CPR instruction led by Brother Tariq from Richmond, giving participants an opportunity to become certified, along with natural-disaster preparedness presented by Sister Portia. Participants received practical information they could take home and use to better prepare their households.

There was entertainment, fellowship, giveaways and an interactive activity led by Sister Saleemah that Sister Kimarie said helped break the ice and bring participants closer together. That combination is important.

Push for Love isn't only about getting away from responsibility. It is about returning to that responsibility with something added to your toolbox—knowledge, community, renewed energy and the reminder that you are not alone.

The Assignment of Care

There is a spiritual dimension to Sister Kimarie's work that cannot be separated from the organization.

She views caregiving as an assignment from God.

That doesn't mean the assignment is easy. Caregiving can affect the body, emotions, finances, relationships and personal identity of the person providing the care. Yet Sister Kimarie believes God does not give the assignment without also giving us the capacity to walk through it.

Her message to caregivers is therefore both simple and powerful: do not disappear inside your responsibility to somebody else.

“You're more than just a caregiver,” she reminds them.

That may be one of the most important lessons coming from Push for Love.

Caregivers need care, too.

They need rest without guilt. They need moments to themselves. They need people who understand. They need resources. They need encouragement. And sometimes they need someone to remind them that taking care of themselves does not mean they love the person they're caring for any less. It helps them continue loving them well.

When the Roles of Life Change

Caregiving also reaches far beyond parents raising children with unique needs.

Life has a way of bringing many of us into that role.

The parents who once fed us, dressed us, protected us and stayed awake when we were sick eventually grow older themselves. For some families, the cycle gradually reverses, and the children become responsible for helping care for the very people who once cared for them.

Others become caregivers unexpectedly through illness, disability, injury or circumstances involving a spouse or another loved one.

This is why Sister Kimarie's message reaches beyond any single group.

At some point in life, many of us will either need a caregiver or become one.

And when institutions and traditional support systems cannot meet every need, family, community, faith-based organizations and grassroots efforts become even more important. Push for Love represents what can happen when someone recognizes a need within the community and decides not to wait for somebody else to fill it.

Pushing Love Forward

Sister Kimarie is already looking toward the next Push for Love retreat, tentatively planned for August 2027. She hopes to continue expanding the experience and introduce additional wellness practices, including breathing techniques and other forms of natural healing.

But the larger vision is community.

A community where caregivers don't suffer silently.

A community where asking for help isn't interpreted as weakness.

A community where the person who spends every day pouring into somebody else occasionally has somebody pour back into them.

Sister Kimarie believes God is guiding that vision, and she intends to continue following where it leads.

Push for Love is a reminder that some of the most meaningful work in our communities doesn't begin with large institutions or enormous budgets. Sometimes it begins with one person's experience, one person's compassion and one person recognizing that if they are struggling with something, somebody else probably is too.

Then they reach back.

That is what Sister Kimarie has done.

And perhaps the greatest message coming from her work is one every caregiver deserves to hear:

Your assignment may be to care for someone you love—but you were never meant to lose yourself while doing it.

Push for Love is a nonprofit organization supporting caregivers and parents of children with unique needs. Those who believe in its mission can learn more about the organization, participate in future programs, or support its work through charitable giving at pushforlovegives.org and through the organization's listed contact information.