Volunteers step up and lend holiday help

The holiday season is a special time to be with friends, family and loved ones. The Yakima Herald-Republic will tell the stories of people whose time with others has been greatly altered this Christmas.

YAKIMA, Wash. -- What started out as a way to steel her nerves has turned into a regular volunteer gig for pianist Anna Wilson.

Wilson, 17, used to get a bad case of stage fright when she started playing in piano competitions at age 14. To conquer the jitters, she began playing for the residents at the Living Care Retirement Community in Yakima.

Now she plays every other week and recently entertained residents at their annual Christmas dinner.

"They just kind of became my fans," said Wilson, a West Valley High School student who also attends Yakima Valley Community College. "I love doing it."

Volunteering, it seems, gets in the blood, especially during the holidays.

Lori Brown, whose son takes lessons from Wilson, admires her volunteerism. "It's a nice intergenerational gesture," said Brown, who is the program manager in charge of case management for Aging and Long-Term Care of Southeast Washington.

Up and down the Yakima Valley, people are giving their time to help the vulnerable feel a little less alone.

Many volunteers are unsung heroes, performing behind-the-scenes work that keeps the gears running at shelters, nonprofit agencies, youth groups and hospitals.

They do it because there's a need and it makes them feel good.

Take Dolores LaCoursiere, for example.

The 82-year-old Yakima resident has been helping out at Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center for 20 years, filing and collating materials in the education department.

"It always makes me feel good to work and be around people who are concerned about others," said LaCoursiere, who was born at the hospital when it was St. Elizabeth's.

Sarah Allen decided to do something a little different with the holiday wreath-making party she hosts for clients who book rooms at the Ledgestone Hotel, where she's the manager.

Normally, the clients -- local businesses that book rooms for business travelers -- take home the wreaths as a gift from the hotel.

"I thought, 'What if we give them the option to donate the wreath instead? I wanted to do something for seniors," said Allen, whose late grandmother suffered from dementia.

So last week Allen delivered about 17 wreaths and swags to Highgate Senior Living, which specializes in memory care.

Mandy Trujillo, community relations coordinator for the facility, said the decorations were a big hit.

"Our residents just lit up. A lot of them don't have family nearby and are alone," Trujillo said.

Other volunteers are drawn to kids.

Gary McLaren, a retired reserve lieutenant from the Yakima County Sheriff's Office, recently delivered gifts to more than 200 kids around the Valley. McLaren was joined by fellow members of The Footprinter group, which is made up of current and former law enforcement officers and their civilian supporters.

"I know a family personally, a single mom with three kids, and if it wasn't for groups like this, their Christmas would really be lacking," McLaren said.

The holidays also brought out the generosity of volunteers and staff of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

"This year we received an unusually large amount of Christmas support for our patients from our volunteers," said Dottie Hildebrand, transition coordinator and hospice volunteer coordinator.

Their acts of kindness included delivering preparations for Christmas dinner to seven families; purchasing and wrapping presents for three families; paying one family's electric bill and decorating two patients' homes.

The holidays are about honoring the dead, too, and one local group made sure those who served in the military were not forgotten at this time of year. The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution collected enough wreaths to decorate all 1,500 soldiers' graves at Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima.

"Last year we only covered three rows, and I stood there and thought, 'We can do better than this,'" said Cary Campbell, second vice regent for the Narcissa Whitman Chapter, which performs the annual honor.

"And we did."

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

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