Happy National Volunteer Appreciation Week! At Children’s Minnesota, volunteers are the heart of our mission. They enhance the hospital experience and contribute to Children’s Minnesota’s legacy in a variety of ways.
This week, we are proud to recognize the many ways our community of Children’s Minnesota volunteers show up. Here are a few examples:
- In our hospitals and clinics: Our red-vested volunteers provide consistent, weekly support patients and families in our hospitals and clinics.
- Through advocacy: Former and current caregivers, parents, family members, and patients provide advocacy and input through the Families as Partners and Youth Advisory Council programs.
- From the community: Dedicated individuals and groups make thousands of tie blankets to provide comfort to our patients.
- Corporate partnerships: Corporate groups host supply drives, sanitize toys for our play areas, wrap presents during our holiday toy shops and more.
- At major events: Children’s Minnesota enthusiasts and ambassadors assist with large-scale fundraising events like the Star Gala and Golf Benefit.
Thanking all volunteers in our community
While we celebrate volunteers dedicated to Children’s Minnesota, we also want to extend a “thank you” to anyone volunteering for the betterment of their neighborhood.
Volunteering isn’t one-size-fits-all. Whether it’s an organized event or an informal act of kindness – like picking up groceries for a neighbor, shoveling a sidewalk, or driving a carpool – your time has an incredible, lasting impact.
Volunteering of any kind builds a sense of belonging. To everyone who has shown up to help, whether inside our hospital walls or out in the community: this week is for you. Thank you for all you do.
Highlighting Joyce: a book cart volunteer extraordinaire
Joyce Sidman, book cart volunteer extraordinaire, acclaimed children’s author, and featured guest on Star Studio’s “Tales from the Book Cart,” has been sharing her love of books with patients for over 24 years at Children’s Minnesota, making hers the second longest volunteer tenure. Joyce has dedicated over 2,272 hours to Children’s Minnesota patients and families and has likely distributed tens of thousands of books in that time.
What was your initial motivation for volunteering?
After my kids got older, I was looking for a volunteer opportunity and had heard a lot about Children’s [Minnesota] from my late husband, who worked there as a pediatric ENT. Volunteer Services greeted me warmly and got me set up with a job in the Book Nook (which was then a lending library). Given my background in children’s books, it was a perfect fit. I’ve been there ever since!
What keeps you volunteering after over two decades? What do you like most about volunteering?
What keeps me at Children’s [Minnesota] are the people. I love the child-centered atmosphere, the mix of diverse families, and the warm, caring interaction between staff and patients. Children’s [Minnesota] has grown and changed over the past few decades, but the mission has remained the same. I also love the Volunteer Services community, and it is a great joy for me to help bring comfort to a family with just the right book.
Do you have a memory or encounter that sticks with you and if so, would you be willing to share?
I don’t have a specific story, but during every volunteer shift, I watch small dramas unfold. Parents who bring their children here are very vulnerable. They are under tremendous stress, and their children are often afraid or in pain. The medical staff is searching for the right way to heal and comfort them, and the rest of the staff – from cleaners to technicians – is keeping everything running smoothly. It’s always amazing to watch all of this interaction and to contribute in a small way.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
As a volunteer at Children’s Minnesota, I feel that my heart has expanded. I wish a had a stamina superpower so that my aging body could keep up!
Anything else you’d like to share?
Sometimes it’s hard to see children in pain, or hard to see the toll that illness takes on their young bodies. But in the end, they are all still children, full of hope, eagerness and mischief. If you can look in their eyes and recognize that, you can make a difference.
Thank you, Joyce; you have likely inspired generations of children through the books and care you provided them. We hope for your continued support of Children’s Minnesota through many, many more years of volunteering.
