Date	Event
3/10-3/13	National Leadership Conference
3/19	Circle of Care Training, Westlake Village
4/9	Walk to D'Feet ALS Redlands
4/16	Circle of Care Training, San Bernardino
4/22	Lowen & Navarro Benefit Concert at Kulak's Woodshed, North Hollywood
4/23	Ask the Experts for Healthcare Professionals: Ontario Hilton Airport, Ontario
May '05	ALS Awareness Month
5/9-5/11	Advocacy Days, Washington D.C.
5/21	Walk to D'Feet ALS Ventura
6/4	Circle of Care Training, Pasadena
6/18	Ask the Experts, Bakersfield
6/19	Lou Gehrig's Birthday
6/21	Lou Gehrig's Day/Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
7/8-10	Lou Gehrig's Days/Lancaster JetHawks
7/24-30	Conejo Valley Little League Tournament
September '05	ABA Casino Night, Call for Information
10/1	Walk to D'Feet ALS/Santa Monica
9/24	Hike 4 ALS
10/8	Walk to D'Feet ALS/Bakersfield
11/20	Little Feat Benefit Concert/Canyon Club
11/21	Golf Tournament/Valencia Country Club
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Volunteer Services | Statistics | Testimonials | Readings | Application Form

Volunteer Readings - "It's A Privilege" by Dillon Woods
(The ALS Association has selected a few readings that may be of interest to our volunteers. We think that these readings will help ease your mind about some situations you may encounter as your work with the chapter in the fight against ALS.)

My family and I learned about the importance of hospice volunteers when my mother was in her final months of life. Until then, I had no idea what hospice volunteers did. Then, on one particularly intense day, the hospice nurse who had been stopping by my parents place said to our family: "You folks have been under a lot of stress - maybe you'd like to consider going out to have dinner… or see a movie or something. Get out of the house, breath some fresh air. Our hospice has volunteers who can sit with your mother until you get back. If there are any problems or changes in her breathing, you will be called right away. Take a break and do something for yourselves."

At the time she said this, I mostly remember feeling numb with exhaustion - and sadness. Unless you have been on a "death watch" with someone you love dearly, it’s difficult to describe the experience, except to say that my emotions were right on the surface of my skin, and went right down to the fiber of my very being.

It was also a big deal for us to leave mom alone with a stranger. Who was this person who would volunteer for such a job? Such an odd thing for someone to volunteer for… or, so it seemed at the time.
We took the advice and a few hours later we arrived back from the movie to find the dishes done, the kitchen organized and the volunteer reading silently by mom’s bed. It was like one of Santa’s Elves had come in and made our world a little easier. One by one, each of us kids thanked her for helping. "It’s a privilege," is all she said as she quietly left.

I can’t tell you the name of that volunteer. I only saw her one other time, at my mother’s funeral a week later. At the end of the service, she came up and quietly shook my hand, saying what a privilege it had been to meet my mom. That experience was significant in forming my attitude toward hospice. Two years later, my feelings of gratitude brought me to do my own volunteering with a hospice in Los Angeles. It was clear to me that the best way to show my deep appreciation to hospice was to become a volunteer and help a family as mine had been helped.

Why are hospice volunteers important? Gary Gardia, director of the Center for Compassionate Care in Las Vegas, NV, says that from a business perspective hospices save literally millions of dollars annually. "Because of volunteers, the average hospice saves approximately $3,210 annually" says Mr. Gardia. This means that on a national level (3000 hospices) the annual savings is conservatively in the neighborhood of 9,630,000.00."

From a social perspective, hospice volunteers often help to create a personalized "home town" feeling of care. There is rarely anything institutional-feeling about hospice care… and one of the biggest reasons for this are the volunteers who give from the heart.

From a spiritual / psychological perspective, hospice volunteers are the only ingredient in the mix of all those involved (the nurse, social worker, Chaplin, etc.) not there to evaluate the patient. Hospice volunteers come to the patient as a friend with no agenda and no judgment, and that approach of friendship is so deeply important to the transition process, it cannot be ignored.

The unique thing about hospice volunteers is that they are usually motivated by the purest sense of love, wanting to give back to hospice something they've received. A sense of selfless service is a common attribute I've encountered with many of the volunteers I have met through trainings and conventions. I would estimate that 8 out of 10 volunteers I've trained in the last three years came to volunteer in hospice because hospice once helped them with a loved one who passed away. Something beautiful has been given to them, so they wish to give back. This desire is sometimes expressed as a feeling of spiritual obligation. "What you have been given as a gift… give as a gift," someone once said. Money cannot buy the sort of devotion that speaks from the heart and says: "It’s a privilege."

Furthermore, as many hospice volunteers offer their service, the love they have for their own loved one who passed away gets stirred up when they volunteer. Memories come back, deep conversations come about that might not normally take place - a bonding and healing often flow freely between patient and volunteer. "It’s a privilege" are often the only words a volunteer can find to describe this experience.
For me, being involved in hospice has truly been a life changing experience and I’m more convinced, now than ever, that volunteers can be the secret key ingredient to a powerful and healing experience for both the family and patient.

A friend of mine recently lost his grandmother, who raised him since birth. Six months before she died, they were having a very deep and heartfelt conversation. In that conversation, he recounted how she had sacrificed so much to raise him. He said, "How can I ever repay you for all the love you have given me?" She responded without missing a beat: "My dear, love can never be paid back… it can only be passed on."

That’s what volunteers do. They pass love on knowing that it is, indeed, a privilege.

Dillon Woods, M.Div is author of Where Souls Meet: Caring for the seriously ill and Questions…for Quiet
Times available at bookstores around the country and at Amazon.com. He is founder of www.hospicevolunteers.com and is on the steering committee for the National Hospice Volunteers Convention scheduled for April 2003. For samples of his recently released audio book, video and more information about his work go to www.livingwithquality.com.

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