I wrote this as an article for the Hospice of the Valley newsletter for our volunteer appreciation day. Our full-time staff recognize and regularly call out our outstanding volunteers. They asked me to write something explaining why I volunteer with Hospice of the Valley. I thought about this for a while. There are many reasons to volunteer that all work together to make a volunteer position rewarding intrinsically and internally, such that one is happy to donate one’s time. But after a while, as I thought about the many volunteer positions I have held, I began to consider what the more rewarding positions had in common. Then things became a lot clearer, and I had my common thread. I discuss the one aspect really ties everything together to make a supremely rewarding volunteer position. 

There are many reasons for volunteering, from the feel-good reward of helping others to the chance to meet a wide variety of people from all walks of life and the opportunity to learn. Ultimately, I feel there is one standout aspect of Hospice of the Valley that ties everything together into a whole that is much more than the sum of all its parts. Community. A sense of belonging comes from being part of a family of volunteers. There is egalitarian togetherness in the Hospice of the Valley organization. And ultimately, we form a healing, supportive society with our patients and their family caregivers. All three of these nested communities are vital and contribute to my desire to volunteer with Hospice of the Valley.

The community of volunteers provides a sense of camaraderie and a support system of people who can share experiences, trade tips, and cover for each other when we have to miss a patient visit. When I learned that other volunteers also have friends and loved ones who are disconcerted by this work, it was eye-opening. Volunteer Nancy helped me to see that this happens frequently and is more a function of the greater society’s broken relationship with death than of my social circle or me. There is an instant connection when volunteers meet to hand off a patient or run into each other at the office. Knowing that we can ask each other questions about patients and the care we provide means a lot. We learn from and support each other as a community of volunteers.  

The Hospice of the Valley organization provides an egalitarian community of volunteers, chaplains, administrators, nurses, health aids, coordinators, doctors, social workers, and many others, all working to assist the dying and their families. This strong and equitably structured community empowers me to be the best volunteer I can be. I am always welcomed as a critical member with equal status and a voice. I feel supported and cared for by the organization, always. When I meet other members of the organization, filling various roles, I feel appreciated and included. I am proud to be part of a multifaceted team, and that motivates me to look for ways to improve the care we give our patients and their families. 

Ultimately, the most incredible sense of belonging to something far greater than myself is the community of Hospice of the Valley, our patients, and their loved ones. We all only die once, and none of us gets to practice; thus, as with birth, there needs to be a supportive community to ensure a quality, self-deterministic experience. Hospice of the Valley invites our patients and their caregivers to become part of a robust society that supports a meaningful and fulfilling end-of-life. Beyond a patient’s death, our society supports loved ones experiencing the grief of loss because every death is unique, as is every grieving experience. Being part of this society anchored by Hospice of the Valley is incredibly rewarding. 

I volunteer at Hospice of the Valley for the comforting sense of community, the support of that community, and the societal empowerment to do good for others at one of the most critical times in their life cycle. The many layers of community help me become a more complete person who fills a vital role in our society. And from that, I get a strong sense of meaning and belonging. Ultimately, it’s all about our ability to come together to support our patients, their families, and each other to enable the best possible end-of-life experiences. 

I volunteer with Hospice of the Valley because it is this powerful community that enables us to fulfill Cicely Saunders’ commitment to every hospice patient: That they matter because they are here now; and that they matter to the end of their life. To do all we can, not only to help patients to die peacefully, but also to live until they die.