I volunteered at the Heart of America

Medical Center in Rugby. I spent the day

baking cookies with the residents as well as

delivering their meals and mail.

The hospital is divided into two floors. The

second floor, long term care, is for residents

who are no longer able to care for

themselves. The third floor, the Village, is for

residents who are able to care for

themselves, but because of certain

reasons such as Alzheimer's they are not

able to live at home alone. I spent about

three hours on each floor.

I choose to volunteer at the HAMC

because I have done volunteer work here

before, by being a “volunteen” in the

summers of 2007 and 2008.

I think being able to give back to your

community to people who you can tell

appreciate what your doing makes you

forget about the fact that your not getting

paid.

Yes. I am actually going to go help at

HAMC when I am home over Christmas

breaking doing some different Christmas

activities.

I learned that even though you don’t get

paid for volunteering, that doesn’t mean you

won’t enjoy it. A lot of people look at the fact

of not getting paid and feel like it is something

they are being forced to do. Look at all the

people in your life who did things for you and

never got paid. If you give back to an

organization that means something to you,

you will value the time you were able to give

them.

I think you can tell in the faces of all the residents how much it means when people take time out of their day to come help with things. Many of them do not have family that live close by, so when they get to see people asides doctors and nurses they enjoy it. Even though you are there to help with different projects, many of them just enjoy having the chance to sit down and visit with you. They honestly have the best and most hilarious stories to share.