Volunteer Spotlight: Kristin Liabenow

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Name: Kristin Liabenow

How long have you been a volunteer?
Three years.

What areas do you work in/what sort of tasks do you do as a volunteer?
Hospitality cart in the Care Center, works holiday parties, and makes desserts for weekly Caregiver dinners.

What made you decide to become a volunteer?
My kids are grown and they moved out of the house, and I work full-time, but I had some extra time on my hands, so I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to fill some of that time. I felt like I wanted to do some more volunteering. I do a little bit of volunteering for soup kitchens but I felt like I wanted to do something in addition to that.

Why Angela Hospice?
I found Angela Hospice through a donation that I made for a friend’s grandmother who had passed. In lieu of flowers I made a donation to Angela Hospice, and that’s how I got on the website, to make the donation. Then I saw the volunteer tab on there and just perused it from there.

Kristin makes desserts for the weekly
Caregiver dinners.
What is your favorite part about volunteering?
Staying with the patients and listening, getting to know the patients, and even the families. With the hospitality cart you don’t just get to know the patients, you get to know the families as well. That’s probably my favorite part.

What is one of your favorite stories or memories from volunteering?
When I first started after my training there was a young woman here and I would see her every week when I came in. She always seemed to have a really good attitude in spite of what she was going through and every time I would go see her, her husband was there. There was never a time when I came in that he wasn’t there. And I thought that she had a really good support system there. I think of everything in the last three years that’s probably the thing that stands out the most.

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