Niagara Hospice volunteers visit with staff members during a recent Volunteer
Appreciation Luncheon.


By Stephanie Burrows, Community Relations Coordinator

When you volunteer, you help make other people’s lives better. But did you know that becoming a volunteer can have positive effects on your life as well?

Recent research has shown that volunteering is good not only for others but for you, too. Peggy A. Thoits and Lyndi N. Hewitt report in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior that “volunteer work indeed enhances all six aspects of well-being: happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of control over life, physical health, and depression.”

“Sometimes when you’re talking to a patient or family member they say something you can really relate to and it just makes your day,” says Niagara Hospice volunteer Julie Goldbach, a volunteer in her eleventh year with Niagara Hospice. “The best part about being a volunteer is knowing that you’re helping someone else get through these tough times and telling them that they are not in this alone.”

In his book, The Healing Power of Doing Good, Allen Luks describes a “helper’s high” that many volunteers experience. This is described as a physical and emotional sensation of euphoria that lasts for days or weeks and spreads into other areas of the volunteer’s life. He also found that the more you volunteer and do things for others, the more benefits you receive. Among these benefits are: a more optimistic outlook on life, increased energy, better perceived health, a greater sense of relaxation and a stronger immune system.

The Niagara County Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) sponsors “Thanks for the Memories,” a writing program for seniors started in 2004 by RSVP volunteer Elaine Brown. It is a writing class for seniors to help them record their life and family histories for generations to come. Brown started the program after grieving the loss of her husband and found it to be a helpful tool for her and others dealing with grief.

“Seniors who have taken the class have found it to be a healing experience as they reflect on the past,” states RSVP Program Coordinator Priscilla Dolling. “I am amazed at the stories I’ve read. Some are joyful and others are painful, but they all reflect a life history and can help heal the hurts of many years,” said Dolling.

Volunteers connected with “Thanks for the Memories” receive the benefit of helping others share their life story that often starts a healing process and they learn new things from each senior they work with.

Niagara Hospice has a similar program available to patients with the help of Super Teen Volunteers. High school students help patients record their life history on videotape, providing a lasting legacy for family members – some of whom may not even have been born yet. “The teen volunteers learn some of life’s most important lessons through interviews with hospice patients and often get a history lesson from people who have lived it,” states Niagara Hospice Volunteer Services Director Alice Beck.

Volunteering also helps you build meaningful relationships with people that you might not ordinarily meet. Goldbach says one of the things she enjoys and values most about being a Niagara Hospice volunteer is the friendships she has created with staff members and other volunteers over the years.

“Becoming a volunteer for Hospice was something that I had wanted to do for a long time and I finally made up my mind to do it,” explains two-year volunteer Mary Irwin. “I don’t look at volunteering as dealing with hardships. I look at hospice patients and ask myself, ‘What can I do to help make this person’s life better at this present moment?’”

Both Goldbach and Irwin agree that volunteering is often challenging work, but to them, the rewards are worth it.

“What you do will definitely make a difference and you will be able to help people during the most difficult times of their lives,” says Irwin.

Perhaps the best thing about volunteering is there is never a shortage of opportunities to help. Community agencies are always in search of new volunteers. To contact the RSVP program, call Priscilla Dolling at (716) 285-8224 ext. 216. For more information about opportunities at Niagara Hospice, call the Director of Volunteer Services at (716) 439-4417 or fill out an on-line volunteer application at www.niagarahospice.org.