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The Hospice/Eckerd College Partnership
Faith in Action St. Petersburg, program director Natalie Washington, and The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast have a great partnership with Eckerd College.
Hospice Today - Spring, 2007 Issue
"I fell in love with The Hospice," says Phillip Lord, a former office volunteer for The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast's St. Petersburg community service center and AIDS Service Association of Pinellas, Inc. (ASAP). "I love how The Hospice is nonprofit, and there are so many volunteers that are there out of the kindness of their heart. I feel good about being a apart of that," said Phillip, who volunteered at the end of last year.
Volunteers, staff, patients and families brought together by The Hospice are diverse in their backgrounds and united in their dedication to The Hospice mission. Volunteers of all ages, cultures and walks of life are a valued part of The Hospice's care teams and administrative departments.
The partnership between Eckerd College and The Hospice through the Faith in Action St. Petersburg program is a win-win-win. It offers a path for college students to learn through real life experiences. It gives the community a pool of bright capable volunteers to help comfort and uplift patients and families served. In addidion, it helps The Hospice respond to community needs for expanding programs and services of the highest quality - as many hands lighten the load.
While at Eckerd College, Phillip, whose family home is in Fort Lauderdale, was one of 3,000 volunteers ocommited to The Hospice. His course of study required 40 hours of community service, and that is how he met Norm Smith, associate dean of the Center for Applied Liberal Arts, in a class called Options for the Future.
"Education inside the classroom is only half of what you need to put your education to good use in the world," says Smith. "I encourage my students to volunteer at The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast because it is a respected organization that looks good on a resume and there is something there for everyone. Students can try fundraising events, singing at a patient's bedside, caring for a patient's pet or helping administrative departments.
"The Hospice patients teach students so much about life just by being who they are," Smith continues. "Each person is at a meaningful juncture in life. Those intergenerational relationships between students and patients, staff and other volunteers can be reassuring for a young student away from home and family for the first time."
Experiential education is part of the curriculum at Eckerd and many other colleges and universities because it has demonstrated benefits for all concerned - students, community and college. At The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, the volunteers outnumber paid employees by three-to-one. Being part of that type of dedicated team shows every student the value of woriing for more than a paycheck - the satisfaction of doing work that fills the heart.