Two afternoons a week two of the volunteers go to the guest home to help with the cleaning there. The rest of the days are spent at three different hospitals, University of Missouri Hospital, UM Women and Children’s Hospital, and Boone Hospital. The volunteers and houseparents work in a number of different departments including the information desk, the gift shops, Ambulatory Infusion Unit, and the medical library. They are involved in answering the phone in the volunteer office, delivering meals, e-cards, and flowers. They also help in the surgery waiting room and in the cancer center. The directors of the volunteer programs have recently changed, and the new directors have expressed their appreciation for our program.

On Tuesday, after work, the unit sings for different ones of the patients in the hospital that they have become acquainted with. The testimony of the hospital personnel is that this brings a quiet rest to many there. We feel blessed to be able to serve here.

The young ladies sing at several local retirement centers on Wednesday evenings. The Versailles and Cole Camp congregations help them with this outreach. After singing they go to the guest home, where they enjoy snacks and fellowshipping together. Most Sundays they are involved with the services at the guest home chapel.

History

The unit at Columbia, Missouri began in 2001 and has six young ladies volunteering together with their house parents. 

At the University of Missouri Hospital, the volunteers work in the gift shop, the information desk, registration, and volunteer office. Also, they deliver newspapaers and books to the patients’ rooms. All of the volunteers have a chance to work here and at Boone Hospital, where they deliver mail, sit at the volunteer desk, deliver flowers and cards, and work in the medical library.

Two of the volunteers spend two days at Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where they help with the medical records, the gift shop, the information desk, and registration.

One day a week two volunteers answer the phone and work at the clinic at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. They clean rooms and do laundry at the Ronald McDonald guest house one afternoon a week.