If you could take one step to reduce your risk of dementia, depression, and heart disease, wouldn’t you do it? What if the same activity could improve your self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and immune system? Add that it’s free. Bring it on, right? We think of volunteering as a way to help people, but research shows that volunteering provides multiple benefits to the volunteers as well. They live longer. They develop new skills and new friends. They gain a stronger sense of purpose and can help effect change.
Millennials and Baby Boomers are volunteering at high rates, but they’re not doing it for the rewards. Still, they experience less stress and more happiness because of it. Let’s see what this looks like through the lives of three volunteers in the Susquehanna Valley.
Nicky Duer
When Nicky Duer finished homeschooling her children, she thought, “Okay, that’s the end of all the really fun things.” Then an editorial in the Lancaster paper caught her eye. It was about CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), which helps children who have been placed in foster care due to neglect and abuse. Duer called and volunteered (casalancaster.org).
With no background in advocacy or the court system, Duer appreciated the intense training. She was assigned Bri (not her real name), a teenager with a heartbreaking story, who she has come to love.
Documenting court hearings and writing court reports are some of Duer’s tasks as a child advocate, and she’s glad to be on Bri’s team when roadblocks crop up: “It’s hard to be a teenager in the best of circumstances, and these kids are not in the best of circumstances at all. They can get stuck and have no idea how to make changes. When I see her struggling, I need to find the person who can help.”
“It’s hard to be a teenager in the best of circumstances, and these kids are not in the best of circumstances at all.”
Duer sends Bri funny cards and calls just to ask how her day went. She especially likes going along with Bri and her caseworker on outings. Like the time they went to the mall and then took Bri to dinner sporting a fresh haircut and new boots. “I admire her so much, and I see her getting healthier,” says Duer.
She often assures Bri: “You will have a life. Even though all of this happened, there’s a whole life ahead of you.” Then Duer realized something: “I should listen to myself. I really believe it for her, so why wouldn’t I believe it for me?” she asks. Now she knows there’s more ahead in her own life and says Bri is “a big part of that ‘more.’”
Jamie Leese
It’s a blustery fall day, and Jamie Leese waits with Trapper, the yellow lab she raised from a puppy. Today, he trades his purple training vest for the official green vest Susquehanna Service dogs (SSD) wear (keystonehumanservices.org/susquehanna-service-dogs). Today, most trainers wait, offstage, to hand the dogs off to their new partner.
But Trapper has a mild physical defect, which could eventually limit his ability to help a partner. So Leese said yes when SSD offered her the option of keeping Trapper. She said yes, and today Trapper celebrates his passage into the world of demonstration dogs. These dogs learn to follow extra cues, like turning lights on or off or picking up keys, to introduce the public to what service dogs can do. Leese is glad when people discover they qualify for a dog because, as she points out, “not all disabilities are visible,” like PTSD.
“I know what I’m doing is going to be part of changing someone’s life and helping them become more independent.”
Before Leese retired, she used to “just go to work and just come home.” But now she’s found her tribe: dogs and dog people. She’s raising a new puppy, Nova, who Leese describes as very attentive and sweet. “I love dogs and I love helping people, so it’s the perfect combination,” she says. “I know what I’m doing is going to be part of changing someone’s life and helping them become more independent.”
Leese also enjoys SSD outings, where she meets other raisers and trainers (and all their dogs). So she’s okay with handing the trained dogs over to their new partner: “You see your investment pay off, what you’ve taught the dog and the love you’ve given. You say goodbye, and you’re ready for your next puppy.”
Jean Chilson
Many of us find visiting hospice patients daunting. Death is approaching; how can we help? Jean Chilson decided to try. Since she lives by herself, she understands “a knock on the door is a break in the routine, and it lasts longer than just the half-hour of the visit.” Plus she enjoys getting out for the day and meeting people.
As a companion volunteer for Homeland Hospice, Chilson can offer joy, company, and friendship to patients at Homeland Hospice (homelandathome.org). She finds it uplifting that she doesn’t hear them complain. “Sometimes I take them outside,” she notes, “and they’re so appreciative because they’re out in the fresh air.” As Chilson offers companionship, she receives the same. “One lady had a bright sparkle in her eyes,” she says, “and I wish I could have met her sooner. We could have been friends.”
“I haven’t seen anyone fighting death or being fearful of it. They seem to be calm, and I think it may be welcome for them.”
Some patients aren’t awake, but Chilson stays, holding their hands, believing they know she’s there. “I haven’t seen anyone fighting death or being fearful of it. They seem to be calm, and I think it may be welcome for them.” Formerly in child development, Chilson is learning about the other end of life. “I’m seeing the stages and kind of know what’s going to happen,” she explains. “I think it’ll help prepare me for that time.”
Patients mostly talk about experiences from childhood, says Chilson, so she brings special gifts with a sense of place—a jar of chow-chow or a bunch of brown-eyed Susans—that might bring back fond memories. She adds, “When you go in, and you’ve got the right thing and said the right thing, it makes it worthwhile, and it makes my day.”
