When Cindy Billideau put out a request for a volunteer artist to paint a wall mural at the Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care offices in Cleveland, she wasn’t expecting an immediate response.
When the world shut down last year, it would have been understandable if our hospice volunteers quietly disappeared to ride out the pandemic. But that didn’t happen. Instead, they worked with our Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care volunteer managers to come up with safe and innovative ways to continue to support our terminally ill patients.
This past year has been a difficult one. We have all had to adjust our lifestyles from work to school to entertainment to protect ourselves and our communities. These changes have been hard on many people. But there are many ways to help and show support for others from the safety of home as a volunteer.
Hospice volunteering is a deeply meaningful experience for many. Motivated by a genuine desire to bring comfort, peace, and care at the end of life, hospice volunteers can have a tremendous impact on the lives of patients and their families.
A new year is a wonderful opportunity to make new choices and try something new. If you’ve been thinking about volunteering more or looking to give back to your community, consider becoming a hospice volunteer in 2020.
Across America, students are returning to school as summer fades to a distant memory. And many of them will be thinking about volunteering this school year. The Corporation for National & Community Service, the federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in volunteer service and grant-making, reported that in 2015, 25.7 percent of college students volunteered, delivering 286 million hours of service with a value of $6.7 billion.
