How Concordia’s Volunteers Support Our Mission

April is National Volunteer Month, a time that Concordia Lutheran Ministries takes to celebrate our amazing volunteers, culminating in thank you lunches and other events to recognize the hard work they do for our Mission: “To serve our aging community with a continuum of high-quality caregiving options, provided in a Christian environment, and to serve those with limited fund to the best of our ability.”

Related: Concordia Volunteers Make a Difference Every Day

Some volunteers specialize in one specific way to help while others use a variety of skills and talents. No matter how they help, our volunteers play pivotal roles at Concordia, and we are always looking for more. If you’re curious about how volunteers spend their time here or are looking for volunteer opportunities yourself (or just ideas on how to help your senior loved ones), here are just a few of the MANY ways Concordia volunteers make a difference:

Helping with activities and events

There’s always something going on at our communities, no matter what service they offer—personal care, assisted living, skilled nursing, retirement living, memory care or physical rehabilitation. Volunteers help with these many activities on a daily basis, from calling weekly bingo games to helping residents and patients gather for a performance or outside entertainment.

Related: National Volunteer Month 2019: From Visiting Mom to Calling Bingo

Volunteers also assist with Concordia’s large community events, such as our Memorial Services, Fishing Derby for Kids, Golf Classic, Annual Summer Festival, Oktoberfest and more. They help these large events go off without a hitch, doing everything from driving golfcart shuttles to serving meals.

Cooking meals

A great meal can put a smile on anyone’s face, and a home-cooked meal can be an amazing comfort. Some of our volunteers make delicious meals or deliver tasty treats for families with a loved one in hospice, entire nursing units and many other areas of Concordia.

Assisting with administrative work

Though senior living (and health care in general) mainly consists of taking care of medical, emotional and spiritual needs, it also comes with of a lot of paperwork. Volunteers complete some of these behind-the-scenes tasks, like filling packets for new in-home care patients, helping with mailings, coordinating events, organizing files and much more.

Making art and music

Many volunteers at Concordia offer their talents to entertain our residents and patients, from performing a show to comforting a hospice patient with calming, familiar music. Our retirement community residents in particular love to donate their time through their art, with some playing piano or other instruments for Concordia events, quilting or designing greeting cards to raise money for our Good Samaritan Endowment Fund, creating furniture and other marvels in the woodshop and more.

Related: 4 Benefits of Volunteering (Happy National Volunteer Month!)

Visiting with residents and patients

Volunteering at Concordia, or volunteering to help seniors in particular, can encompass the many skills listed above – or it can be as simple as visiting and having a friendly conversation. Our residents and patients love spending quality time with volunteers, and there doesn’t always need to be an activity or specific reason for a visit.

Good Samaritan Hospice, a mission of Concordia, also has a volunteer program for those who are willing to help with very important visits: Angels on Call. This program is designed so that our hospice patients can have someone to sit bedside in their final hours. The program provides our patients and their families with special support and comfort during end-of-life care. Our Angels on Call volunteers are dedicated to their cause and ready at moment’s notice to help.

All volunteers at Concordia help carry out our mission by supporting high-quality care and promoting a supportive, Christian environment, whether they volunteer in one of our inpatient senior care communities, in-home care service lines or another area of Concordia. From all of Concordia to our amazing volunteers: THANK YOU for all that you do!

If you would like more information about the many volunteer opportunities at our senior care locations in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio or Tampa, Florida, visit our Locations Map or call our administrative headquarters at 724-352-1571.