“This is a perfectly normal neighborhood”. Then, out of nowhere, A large building appears. Literally placed in the middle of a neighborhood, a giant grey monolith stands two stories high with signs labeled for a few small businesses. I scroll through the listings until I see what i’m looking for: ‘G - ThereWithCare’. We drive towards the front of the building, nondescript and more industrious than I would have expected. As I get out I see the small oval sign on a bleak grey wall “There With Care”. Its colorful letters jet out at my eyes like a small shimmer of hope on an otherwise dull wall. Suddenly the windowed door opens and Kathy peers out at us, smiling as she beckons us in. I walk in to see a plethora of childrens books on shelves to my left. Kathy points to them and explains that she tries to incorporate reading into her current work with kids, a remainder from her previous volunteering. As she talks I can hear the wheeze in her voice, tainting her golden warm tone. We walk down through the rows of shelves labeled “Boys Diapers” and “Bottles”.
Kathy is at peace here. She knows every nook and cranny and has a story with each picture on the wall. “We had these parents take a picture with their sick child before he died.” Kathy explains as she points to a professional looking photo of a young couple and their baby. The picture is black and white, the family looks nice but different. They are happier than anyone else in the world to be clutching on to the last days of their childs life. Kathy leads me up the narrow stairway to her desk. The whole There With Care building is very narrow, like a giant walk in closet for any item of baby clothing or diaper size that you could ever want, complete with an industrial sized fridge full of formula. Before Kathy said a word about the volunteering helping her with cancer, I knew it had. Just the way she acted in this place let me know. Kathy isn’t the only one to be positively affected by volunteering, there have been many studies linking volunteering to increased health. “Volunteering combats depression. Reducing the risk of depression is another important benefit of volunteering.
A key risk factor for depression is social isolation. Volunteering keeps you in regular contact with others and helps you develop a solid support system, which in turn protects you against stress and depression when you’re going through challenging times.” (Norris West, “Volunteering Produces Health Benefits”). This study is definitely applicable to Kathy who told me, “People feel isolated when they’re sick. I know that when it happened to me, and you’re getting treatment, you have to go home and stay home by yourself for long periods of time, you feel isolated and that makes you feel down.” There With Care felt more like a home than a work place. There were posters strewn across the walls and every inch was taken up by toys and books. Kathy and the small crew she worked with had personalized There With Care to be the perfect place for Volunteering. As I sat next to Kathy in her office she explained the amazing story of how There With Care began. “It was started in Colorado about 7 years ago.