The volunteer auxiliary at Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital has a long history of service in South Boston and the surrounding area.

In 1953, a group of 51 women established an organization that would eventually be known as the Auxiliary of Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital. As volunteers, these individuals recognized a need in their community and put a plan into place to fill that need. With many fundraisers, like “Frantic Follies,” the original volunteer group raised $150,000 to buy healthcare equipment the hospital desperately needed.

Today, the volunteers are still doing all of these things and more. Not only do they meet the needs of the hospital by volunteering to deliver newspapers and cheer cards to patients, shuttling patients and their families to and from the parking area in the hospital golf cart, facilitating a pet therapy program and running the front desk to help visitors find what they need, they also continue to raise funds for scholarship programs and meet the hospital’s needs.

Guest Services Manager Tiffany Jackson and her volunteers talked recently about how volunteering at Sentara over the years has impacted them on a personal level.

“It’s an opportunity for me to help people and to work with different people instead of being in my house all day,” said Jeanette Ford, who has been volunteering at Sentara for three years. “My brother volunteered for two or three years and he was so excited by it, that I decided to give it a try. It is everything he said it was, and more. I go home each day and feel completely satisfied.”

Personal gratification, along with the help being given to others, is a major theme for many of the volunteers who give their time and talents to Sentara.

There are currently 111 volunteers at Sentara, including 21 junior volunteers who donate hours during their summer vacation. Last year alone, this group gave 21,000 hours of volunteer time to the facility by performing many of the aforementioned duties.

If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a volunteer or if you want to learn more about volunteering at Sentara, call Jackson at (434) 517-3422.