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Volunteers ‘don't want a thank you for it'
Those offering their time and talent for others say giving is its own reward
Friday, Aug. 28, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Volunteer Ann Thomas, right, and Myrtle Faunce count their winnings after a game of poker at the American Legion Post 255 in Ridge.
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They're everywhere.
Just about anywhere you go in Southern Maryland there are volunteers who are on hand to help in hospitals, fire departments, rescue squad stations, town and government offices, senior centers and schools.
Volunteers often work in the background and sometimes it's hard to tell them apart from the employees.
They contribute thousands of hours of time and save local jurisdictions thousands of dollars every year by offering assistance for no pay to further a cause or provide comfort to those who need it.
Volunteers are a precious commodity the local leaders say they cannot do without because the time they contribute could not be duplicated if their services had to be rewarded with a paycheck.
‘A kind spirit'
Ann Thomas has only been volunteering for a few years, but she has made up for lost time.
The Ridge resident logged 1,400 volunteer hours in 2008 with the St. Mary's County Department of Aging's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, said Jayne Hunsinger, the program's project manager. The program, administered under the Corporation for National and Community Service, offers volunteer opportunities to folks 55 and older.
Hunsinger said Thomas earned the 2008 Presidential Silver Award from the Points of Light Foundation for her volunteer efforts.
"She'll commits her time to so much all across St. Mary's County," Hunsinger said. Thomas, 60, said she decided to volunteer after she had to stop working because of knee surgery. She said her first volunteer effort was stepping in to serve as the president of American Legion Post 255 in Ridge when the former president died.
"They handed the key over to me to open the building," she said, laughing. "I thought that as long as I'm opening the building I'll volunteer to help the seniors."
The post opens its doors to a group of senior citizens every Wednesday for a hand or two of cards and a warm lunch, Thomas said.
"I love it," she said. "I get to know them and I have fun with them."
Thomas said she often takes a senior citizen to a doctor's appointment.
"I get satisfaction out of knowing that if they need help I'm there," she said, adding she devotes about 900 volunteer hours at the post doing a variety of activities, including cooking for special events. "Senior citizens are very independent. They don't like asking for help. If I can give of myself to help them in any way I do it. I don't want a thank you for it. I like helping others."
Thomas also volunteers 15 to 20 hours a month at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home. "I enjoy it," she said. "It makes me feel like I'm doing something useful instead of just sitting around. I'm out in the community helping. Veterans are my first choice to help. If it wasn't for our vets our country wouldn't be what it is today. My heart is with our veterans."
There is plenty to keep volunteers busy at Charlotte Hall, Thomas said. Volunteers organize ice cream socials, a carnival, gift wrapping at Christmas and fixing fruit baskets for the vets at Thanksgiving, among other activities.
Volunteers also crochet items for the veterans to give their friends and relatives for Christmas, Thomas said.
Thomas also volunteers at the Garvey Senior Activity Center in Leonardtown helping to affix labels to the 3,000 newsletters the center mails to seniors in St. Mary's County, Hunsinger said.
In addition, Thomas volunteers with the American Cancer Society, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office's Seniors and Law Enforcement Together program and the St. Mary's County Health Fair, Hunsinger said.
Thomas also logs some volunteer hours helping the county prepare disaster preparedness kits for St. Mary's vulnerable population, Hunsinger said.
Thomas takes it all in stride.
"It makes me feel useful; I want to do more," she said. "If I'm able to get out and help someone, I'm there. I encourage everyone to volunteer. The more volunteers that we have the less money the government has to spend on programs."
"Ann is very generous of her time and talents when it comes to the needs of the St. Mary's County community," said Sherrie Woolridge, community programs and outreach manager for the St. Mary's County Department of Aging. "Many projects need a dependable, pleasant and willing volunteer and Ann displays all of these qualities with her kind spirit."
"If we call on Ann she's willing to step up to the plate on short notice," Hunsinger said. "The amount of time that she puts into volunteering is phenomenal."
‘An amazing woman'
Australian-born Marie Andrews of Solomons has been a volunteer for more than 50 years. She is 85 now and said recently she only wishes that she could do more as an advocate for families, youth and children in Southern Maryland.
Andrews, who holds a master's degree in community service from St. Michael's College in Burlington, Vt., said the volunteering bug bit her in 1952 when she agreed to help out her church in Ohio.
It kind of snowballed from there.
Andrews and her husband, Jack, arrived in Calvert in the 1970s and before she knew it, she said, she was volunteering with the League of Women Voters of Calvert County. She served as the organization's president and helped conduct a study on the needs of children in the county that resulted in the formation of the Calvert County Crusade for Children in Prince Frederick in 1998.
The nonprofit organization coordinates America's Promise national community service program in Calvert, works on community-based initiatives for children and families and advocates for after-school programs and recreation facilities, Andrews said. The organization focuses its energies on increasing volunteer and financial resources dedicated to programs for children and youth, and on building community awareness of youth issues.
Andrews, who serves as the organization's president, said she believes that nurturing children and helping parents raise their kids so they grow up to be responsible adults is an investment in the country's future.
"We hear so often that our children are our future, but really we are the future for our children," she said. "If adults don't care about the future generation, then our future generation and civilization will suffer."
Andrews knows a thing or two about suffering. The mother of five children, she lost her 21-year-old son, John Michael Andrews, in 1967 when the U.S. Army helicopter he was piloting crashed in Vietnam.
Hurting and feeling a tremendous sense of loss, Andrews sought some help from Compassionate Friends, a group that assists people who have suffered the loss of loved ones. She later worked to start a chapter in Calvert County in the 1980s.
That experience led her to learn more about hospice care for people dealing with terminal illnesses and the relatives and friends who are left behind to grieve. Soon she was involved in establishing Calvert Hospice in Prince Frederick in 1983.
Andrews served as the first president of the organization's board of directors.
"I had done a lot of work with grief counseling, but I didn't have a lot of experience with terminal illness," she said. "I did understand the need of people who were dealing it."
Andrews said she traveled to Baltimore every month during the organization's infancy to meet with others who had formed hospices. Those meetings helped her realize that an organization such as hospice should become a licensed health care agency.
"I realized that having volunteers to run the organization wasn't enough to provide services to families who are dealing with terminally ill patients," she said. "I talked to legislators to get them to understand about hospice and the licensing and insurance issues."
Andrews volunteered with Calvert Hospice for 13 years before she ended up devoting a good portion of her time to the Calvert Crusade for Children.
"I felt that I needed to progress," she said. "I needed to be someplace else besides hospice so I decided to work with children because they're our future."
Volunteering is a worthwhile endeavor that benefits the community and the volunteers, Andrews said.
"Volunteering makes me feel alive," she said. "Particularly in your senior years, what do you do with your time? Each person must choose what he or she wants to do, but those who choose to volunteer probably are going to live the longest."
"Marie is just an outstanding individual," said Guffrie Smith, vice president of the Calvert Crusade for Children, adding Andrews also worked tirelessly on the Prince Frederick Aquatic Center project. "She doesn't give up. She has a passion for helping others, especially the young and needy."
"Marie Andrews is a hero," said Lynn Bonde, executive director of Calvert Hospice. "She had a vision that has produced 25 years of support for end-of-life care in Calvert County. Her contributions to the effort are unmatched. She's an amazing woman."
‘Real assets to the community'
Patsy and Ann Bergerstock are a mother and daughter who help make people's visits to Civista Medical Center in La Plata less traumatic.
Patsy Bergerstock began volunteering in the hospital's emergency department and gift shop three years ago after retiring from the Centers for Disease Control in Georgia. She said she moved back to Charles County to be closer to her three grandchildren.
Bergerstock's daughter, Ann, started volunteering as a receptionist at Civista's front desk Tuesdays and Thursdays two years ago. It is quite an effort for the 42-year-old because she has spina bifida — a birth defect that causes the spine to not close all the way.
Ann Bergerstock said she takes a VanGO bus to her volunteering job, adding she is confined to a wheelchair most of the time although she also uses crutches to get around.
Ann, who has lived and traveled with her mom all of her life, said she finally had to move to the Charles County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in La Plata about three years ago when her condition required more care than her mother could provide at home.
She also volunteers at the center, helping some of the frail residents participate in activities.
"Some of the residents need help playing bingo and doing other activities," she said. "I pitch in when the residents need a little bit of help."
Ann said she likes volunteering at Civista because it takes her away from the sometimes sad atmosphere at the nursing home.
"I enjoy being with people and talking to them," she said. "I really like the hospital. There are a lot of nice people who work there. I volunteer at Civista to get out of the nursing home for a while and be with people who are not in such bad shape."
Volunteering is therapeutic, as well, she said. "I feeling like I'm accomplishing a goal," she said. "I like helping people. It makes me feel very good about myself."
Patsy Bergerstock agrees that volunteering is uplifting.
"Volunteering is more self-satisfying for me than it is for the patients," she said. "Patients tell me that they really appreciate my help and I tell them that I get more out of this than they do."
Patsy works Tuesday and Thursday mornings in Civista's emergency department. She helps the medical staff keep the supply room stocked, changes beds in the cubicles after a patient has been discharged and helps make folks who are waiting for someone to be treated more comfortable by fetching them cups of coffee or a soda or just lending them a shoulder to lean on.
"I try to make patients and visitors as comfortable as possible by talking to them," she said. "Some people just need to talk and some need to be alone. You've got to feel them out. It helps some people if I can make them laugh."
Volunteering at the hospital fulfills a desire to work in the medical field, Patsy said. "I've always liked the medical field," she said. "When I was very young I thought very seriously about being a nurse."
Patsy and Ann Bergerstock contribute a lot to the Civista Health Auxiliary, said Donna Salmi, a volunteer coordinator and volunteer at the hospital. "Patsy and Ann do a wonderful job," she said. "They're a real asset to our organization and our community in providing customer service and meeting other people's needs."
People who have a little time on their hands should considering volunteering, Patsy said.
"I would grab them by the hand and say ‘come on in,'" she said. "We really need volunteers and it's just so satisfying. You have to be a people person. You've got to love being around people and helping them. You've got to want to help."
