As featured in
Stitches of Kindness & Comfort
by Flo Johnston | Photography by Katherine Clark
M
oving and changing one’s lifestyle can be a recipe for extreme stress. Such was the situation for Cathy Goodman last summer when she and her husband, Ralph, moved from Richmond, Virginia, to Scotia Village, a retirement community in Laurinburg.
However, it took only a short time for this plucky lady to find a solution to her flagging spirits-a new niche for herself as a volunteer at Scotland Memorial Hospital. “Volunteering has helped me make a connection to my new community,” she says. Goodman knits tiny clothing for infants that is given to mothers who lose babies long before full-term. This kind of death in the medical world is called “fetal demise,” but Goodman contends these words are too cold and abstract for the death of tiny human beings. “These are babies,” she says with the passion that fuels her volunteer work. A retired elementary teacher, Goodman, for six years, belonged to “From the Heart,” a group of women in Richmond who knit and crochet for charity. “We had about 1,200 volunteers all over Virginia, some as individuals and some in groups of 25 to 30 in cities like Williamsburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke and Richmond, and now we have one in North Carolina,” she says, smiling. CONTINUED PAGE 34
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Three knitted items are included in the packages that are donated to the hospital for delivery by hospital personnel. The package includes a small blanket, measuring from 15 to 18 inches, an off-white gown opening in the back with blue or pink ribbon trim and a tiny hat to match. The little hats are just large enough to fit on a golf ball. Goodman knits the gowns and hats, but a majority of the blankets are made by Hilda Gingiloski, a friend in Virginia and a member of the “From the Heart” group. Packages of the three items are presented in a clear plastic wrapper. Goodman usually works at home, often while watching television, but occasionally she joins a knitting circle that meets on Wednesday afternoons at Scotia Village. It takes her about four hours to make a full set for the smallest baby and a bit more time for the larger ones. The gowns come in three sizes that measure 6 inches, 8 inches or 11 inches in length. Goodman, with her effervescent personality and abundant energy, has her own philosophy about finding and doing volunteer work. “After I retired, I looked for a way to volunteer,” she says. “I heard that the best way to decide is to find the place where something you really enjoy doing intersects with the needs of others. “I would go a step further and say that when you find that intersection, you not only find where you should work, but you also discover the joy of volunteering. Too many people volunteer for projects because it is ‘what they should do’ and they never realize the joy that can accompany the project. It’s that joy that is at the heart of volunteering and doing for others.” Nancy Rogers, director of volunteers at Scotland Memorial Hospital in Laurinburg, feels that Goodman’s contributions are significant to the hospital. “I got chills when I first saw the tiny little gowns,” Rogers says. “When someone loses a baby and has nothing to put on them for burial, the gowns are something for us to give parents to comfort them.” Volunteers at Scotland Memorial racked up some 22,000 hours of work last year. They do things the hospital would otherwise have to hire someone to do and this translates to money saved. With a grateful smile, Roger adds, “It’s a blessing to have volunteers.” 34
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Make a plan and pick a perfect partner for successful aging.