I know that I have written about random acts of kindness in one of my first blogs but something happened this weekend that brought it all home again. The daughter of our long time volunteer, Steve Horner, called this weekend and asked Janet Weston, Director of Volunteers, and I to come say our goodbyes.Steve has given over 8,500 hours to the hospital over his 20 years of volunteering. He was recently honored by NJBiz by being named the 2008 volunteer of the year. Steve worked mostly in the school program on our inpatient unit, but he was always available to help where he was needed.
Being invited into a family's grief, before the family member passes away, is a tremendously personal and generous thing for the family to do. Steve’s family made it very clear to me as I sat in their home that his life, after he retired and especially after his wife, Aurelia, died three years ago, was dedicated to spending time volunteering with our children.
Aurelia was also a volunteer, who encouraged Steve to donate his time to our children. As we sat with Steve and reminisced, his daughter grabbed one of two cards that was on the bureau in his bedroom. She told me that this card had arrived last week and was from Jackie Jones in our dietary department. His daughter went on to explain that Steve would come home and tell stories about all of us, but especially Jackie. He had a soft spot for her and the stories would be about - how she had given him a hug, or told him a story - things that I know Jackie never thought would be worth retelling to your family but she brought him tremendous joy. His daughter showed me how the card "sang" when you pushed the button and how much it had meant to him to get this card at home.
As I left that night, I was so thankful for the chance to have time with Steve and his family. Steve’s daughter reminded me how the little things we do make such a difference in people’s lives – in ways we may never imagine.
While I know Steve will join his dear wife Aurelia soon, he has given me a tremendous gift to remind us no matter how small the gesture is, showing that random act of kindness defines who we are as people and could add so much to someone's day.
4 comments:
A very touching story that made me cry. Thank God we still have beautiful people that care for one another and even the ones that have left us, but left us with found memories.
Steve is a great man and a great American. He gave of his time and talent willingly and allowed us to be a part of his family. He was a veteran and a war hero and one of the most humble men you could ever ask to meet. He truly was a part of the Greatest generation
This was indeed touching and at the same time surprising to me to know that Steve's health was so percarious. Steve did volunteer work for the HR department from time to time. He was always pleasant, patient, and accurate in his work. He always looked to do more long after there was nothing else to be given. I loved the fact that during the winter months he only wore a very heavy cable stitched sweater and always said he was warm! After reading Amy's blog, I needed to get some air and pull my emotions back together so I walked out into the hallway where I encountered Morris Hunter who noticed something wrong with me. I share my new found information about Steve with him, and he immediately started reciting his shared moments of Steve to me and wishing he could visit with him too. In a few minutes Carol Taylor came along and she got included in the memory walk. After which we all hugged each other and went our separate ways. To that end I came back into my office and sat down here to just say something. What I want to leave with everyone who reads this blog is that we all need to slow down and stop being so "busy". We need to reach out to our fellow coworkers with a kind word, a morning smile, a hug, a momemt of conversation and generally stop being so "busy" before we find ourselves wanting to say something to each other and the time has passed. I hope that these blogs will be shared with Steve's family so that they can further know what a wonderful person he is and how he touched the lives of others.
Though I didn't know Steve personally, I know the wonderful work of our volunteers that I have been involved with over my many years at Children's. This brings to mind 2 quick stories one involving Jack Ferrari, a volunteer who I worked closely with back in the 70s. My mom was very sick at the time and a day didn't go by that he didn't ask me about her. This meant so much to me. When I returned to work after her passing, he was the first person to ask about her not knowing that she had passed. He hugged me and offered words of comfort which meant so much and I will never forget him for that.
Many years later when I transferred to Child Care, our volunteers donated hand sewn bears to our infant class at Christmas. I spent this past weekend visiting a graduate of that class who is now 12 years old. She was taking that same bear on a sleepover evening with her little friends.
Both were little acts of kindness which mean so much many years later.
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