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Stories about

Volunteering

When you volunteer for the Sisters of Providence you help continue the mission that Saint Mother Theodore began back in 1840. We help our volunteers find the right opportunity that fits their interests and passions. Some of our volunteers keep a regular schedule while others help out as their time permits. Volunteering is a great way to meet people, gain experience, and boost your confidence. Volunteer opportunities with the Sisters of Providence include visiting patients in health care, leading tour groups, answering phones, maintaining the grounds, working in the organic gardens, helping with alpacas and assisting at special events and more. To learn more about volunteering contact our Volunteer Coordinator Sarah Knoblock at 812-535-2878.

Making someone’s day just by showing up: Teen shares her experience as a Providence Teen Volunteer

We usually think of volunteering as weeding a garden or picking up trash (those are important too, of course), but it can be more. It can be making someone’s day just by showing up. It can be learning things you never knew from someone who experienced it first-hand. It can be the satisfied feeling you get when someone laughs at a joke you made. Volunteering isn’t just mundane tasks. It’s knowing and feeling and connecting with people.

Education in everyday caring makes a difference

Staff members who participated in dementia care training share how it makes a difference in their everyday care giving: Don’t take any behaviors personally.** Build trust by spending time with each person.** Learn to read the cues of a person. A non-verbal person may ordinarily smile as a greeting; but if there’s no smile, she’s having a bad time of it.

Youth, elders learn from each other

After visiting with Sister Marceline Mattingly, age 102, Jolyssa Cortez wrote: “I asked her in what year she was born and she said, ‘1915.’ I think that is amazing because she lived through so much history in her life. She said the most amazing part of the history she lived was seeing the technology industry grow. After my visit, I felt like a whole new person.”