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Each Saturday morning begins the same way
for Michelle Gordon: She wakes early, travels
to Children’s Hospital Boston and dons a blue volunteer smock.
Her path to Children’s fluctuates; when she first started, she took the bus from Belmont, rode the red and green lines and walked from Longwood Station. Nowadays, the 20-year volunteering veteran spends the first hours of her weekend making the scenic drive from Nashua, New Hampshire. Despite career changes, moving out of state and a new marriage, Gordon’s Saturday routine remains constant, and she intends to keep it that way. With 2,972 Saturday hours under her belt, it’s Gordon’s goal to reach 3,000 hours by May 15.
Gordon is one of a handful of long-time Saturday morning volunteers who give up brunches and lazy weekends in bed to volunteer at the hospital. As the years have gone by, a core group of volunteers have emerged to form the backbone of the weekend crew. Barbara Blundell, MS, supervisor of Volunteer Services, says the Saturday morning crew is invaluable. “These are sterling people,” she says. “We call on them to do a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, as well as playing with the kids.”
This morning, sitting in the Volunteer Office, Gordon puts together orientation packets with Anne Powell, who has been spending her Saturdays at Children’s for 10 years. Collating packets, the women discuss what originally brought them to volunteering. Gordon, a medical assistant in Winchester, says she was ingrained with a commitment to community service early in life. And she never liked to sleep in on weekends anyway. “I really look forward to coming in,” she says.
Gordon organizes the monthly dog shows in the Patient Entertainment Center, where the dogs do obedience tricks to the delight of patients. Most valuable, says Blundell, is the way Gordon takes new volunteers under her wing. “That’s her first priority,” Blundell says. So what keeps Gordon coming back, year after year? She says it’s the resilient attitude of the kids that never fails to lift her spirits. “No matter how sick they are, they don’t let anything hold them back,” she says. “Their positive outlook is inspiring.”
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For Powell, a research coordinator for the Massachusetts Office of the Commissioner of Probation, chance brought her back to Children’s after being treated here as a child. On an evening a decade ago, Powell was flipping through TV stations and stumbled across a telethon raising money for the hospital. As she watched it, she recalled her own experience at Children’s and decided she wanted to come in and play with the children. “I remembered how difficult it was for me here, and I wanted to do something and give back,” she says. Powell is now about to break the 1,000 volunteer-hour mark.
Because fewer activities are scheduled on weekends, the days can seem long and boring for children on the inpatient floors. Breaking up that monotony and entertaining the kids is what drives Paul Kimball, another member of the group. If it weren’t for Kimball, the playroom on 10 NW would remain locked on Saturdays. Each Saturday, the investments accountant for Wellesley College retrieves the keys from the nurse’s station and opens up the colorful room with big windows.
On this day, he unlocks the door, turns on the lights and the radio, and one minute later, 9-year-old Steven is hobbling in as fast as he can, heading for the Nintendo. “He would be running if he could,” says his mom. Steven, who was hospitalized for an operation a week earlier, begins intently playing Transformers as his mother rests on a kiddie chair. She says Steven was crushed when the playroom closed on Friday night. “This room is the best medicine,” she says.
When Kimball started volunteering, he planned on doing it for a few years. Now, 16 years later, he calls the playroom his “little home on Saturday.” Kimball says he enjoys meeting people from all around the country and the world, and that the kids help him to keep life in perspective. There’s never a typical day in the playroom. “At times, people are waiting for me to open the room, other times, kids drift in and out, looking for puzzles and games,” he says. It’s not only the kids who appreciate the volunteers: “Sometimes the parents need someone they can just unload on, someone who doesn’t necessarily know all the medical stuff but can listen,” he says.
After spending so much time together, the Saturday morning group has gotten close. They celebrate each other’s birthdays and know each other’s families. There’s also friendly competition: Kimball wants to make it to his 20-year anniversary, just like Gordon. Arquimedes Areche, a Volunteer Services employee who supervises on Saturdays, says he’s impressed with the way the group has adapted over the years. “What makes them unique is how long they’ve been together and how well they work together,” he says. Blundell says the crew is a powerful example for other volunteers. “As their lives have gone in different directions, they still keep coming in,” she says. “They plan their lives around Saturday mornings.” For Kimball, it doesn’t seem that extraordinary. “I’m not doing brain surgery,” he says, “I’m just playing with the kids.” Coaxing a smile onto a child’s face makes all the early mornings worthwhile for him. “There’s no price tag for that,” he says.
National Volunteer Week is April 19 to 25. A dinner recognizing volunteers who are celebrating service milestones will be held on May 14. |
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