Featured Volunteer: Mary Maki-Rich

I'm sitting outside right now doing my Beyond Limits homework. So I am in The Zone. I want to answer the question about WHY I do this. "Why" questions work for me. They make me think deeper. My life word is "significance." I can't live without it. Since I retired from being an ED nurse after 43 years (actually, it is precisely two years ago today!), I have searched for my significance. I did some volunteering with Acts of Kindness on the Joe Rodota trail and saw firsthand what it is like for homeless people to survive in their plastic tarp hovels. As a triage nurse in the hospital, I never had gotten to witness their situations. I only heard about their problems. Part of me didn't believe it could be that bad.

Walking on the trail after a rainstorm where everyone's belongings got soaked, I saw what it was like to be out there in the cold and rain and wind. It was horrible. Just horrible. That's why I do what I do. A friend and I used to bring a coffee cart once a week down the trail. Everyone, and I mean, everyone was grateful and super polite. My family is all back east, and I try to look at all these folks like my family. After this COVID thing settles down, I hope to get out to the encampments again. I am grateful to Kathryn and the Center for coming up with this idea of hot meals for those who need them.

Being a part of this team has increased my confidence in ways I didn't expect. And I needed that.

With gratitude,

Mary Maki-Rich

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Volunteer Community at the Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

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