“I could go play tennis, or I could go eat lunch, but I get a much better feeling helping the kids,” says neighborhood resident and volunteer Mary Jo Poscharsky.
Volunteering usually isn’t glamorous. It involves a dedication and determination we don’t see enough of these days. The rewards for a volunteering job well done often are no more than smiles, thank-you notes and pats on the back, rather than paychecks, retirement plans or holiday bonuses.
And the volunteers who sacrifice time that could be spent on the golf course, in front of the television or surfing the Internet don’t view their selfless labor as a sacrifice at all.
It is part of them, they say, defining who and what they are.
Paying Back
Joanie Williams was a frightened young mother when her then-two-year-old son, Kirk, was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.
“At the time, heart surgery was very rare,” Williams says.
“I was very afraid, because what they did (rarely) then, they do quite frequently now.
“When it’s your child, everything is very critical, so I started working at the hospital (after the diagnosis) to find out as much as possible.”
Three years after the initial diagnosis, the surgery on Williams’ son was successfully performed. Now 37, Kirk is a happily married father.
But the story doesn’t end there.
To Williams, no price tag could be placed on her son’s life. She believes the doctors, nurses and staff at Children’s Medical Center gave her son life, so for the past 35 years, she has been giving back as a regular volunteer at the hospital.
“Joanie has an