As you are thinking about your New Year’s resolutions, I encourage you to make one of those resolutions to become a Covenant Hospice volunteer.
When people think about volunteering for hospice, their first thought may be, “I could never do that,” or “I would be too depressed.”
Talk to a Covenant Hospice volunteer and he or she will tell you a different story.
Covenant volunteers come from many backgrounds — retirees, professionals, active military personnel and high school and college students. But they all have one thing in common: a desire to give back.
And they receive so much in return.
Covenant has opportunities for people with diverse skills and interests.
Volunteers looking for a chance to meet people and be active in the community will love Covenant’s Ambassador Program.
Covenant’s fundraising events are the perfect fit for those wanting to have fun and socialize with others.
Volunteers who enjoy office work or computers can find a home in administrative support.
Individuals with care-giving experience or emotional and spiritual support skills may choose to visit Covenant’s patients and families in their homes or nursing facilities.
Those who have experienced the loss of a loved one understand what families have gone through, and make wonderful bereavement volunteers. Volunteers receive specialized training that prepares them to volunteer in their area of interest.
Our volunteers help patients and their families by gardening, cleaning yards, making simple home repairs, building wheelchair ramps, sewing, crocheting, cooking and baking.
Covenant Hospice promises our volunteers that they will find a sense of purpose, worthwhile work and realization that they are making a difference. That’s why more than 2,600 individuals have chosen to give an important part of their lives to Covenant Hospice.
The Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has presented Awards of Excellence for the Ambassador Volunteer Program, the Reflections Life Review Journal Program and the Tuck-in Program. The late Sam Goldenberg and his wife, Joyce, long-time Covenant Hospice volunteers, received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
So while you are composing and implementing your New Year’s resolutions, please think about becoming a Covenant Hospice volunteer.
I promise it’s a resolution that is easy to keep, and extremely rewarding.
WANT TO HELP?
Volunteer training sessions are as follows:
•Jan. 21 and 23, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 4100 S. Ferdon Blvd., Suite B-6 in Crestview
•Jan. 23, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 220 Eglin Parkway NE in Fort Walton Beach
Call Volunteer and Community Relations manager Carolyn Williams, 682-3628, for more details.
Jenni Perkins, senior development and communications manager of Covenant Hospice, Okaloosa & Walton Counties
What's your view? Email commentary on local issues that you are passionate about to news@crestviewbulletin.com or tweet News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni @cnbeditor.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: GUEST COLUMN: Help hospice patients, their families in 2014