DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Service needs volunteers to fill a void for elderly people

"The mills closed; the young people left to find jobs. The elderly were doomed to be by themselves. And members of the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches anticipated a need.
"That's how it started," said Mary Enterline Courtney of Volunteer Service to Seniors, which was founded in 1981.
In 1987, it was chosen by Faith in Action to be one of just 20 interfaith care-giving groups in the nation to receive funding through The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Courtney, now 84 and a Canfield resident, was the first coordinator of volunteers, managing 25 in 1982. Before volunteering, Courtney was a health education instructor at Youngstown State University. Courtney served on the program's board until 2000.
"We wanted to anticipate the need and who would be wanting help before they even initiated a request," she said. Volunteers, then and now, served as visitors, errand-runners, and chauffeurs.
'Need was tremendous'
"And it worked beautifully. We were given a home rent-free to use across from YSU on Wick Avenue. We had board meetings there and trained volunteers," she said. "There were always more clients than volunteers. The need was tremendous."
Volunteer Service to Seniors publicized its work through churches, newspapers, health-fair exhibits and through its own speakers bureau.
Jim Doran Sr. was one of those speakers. The Boardman resident joined Volunteer Services in 1988, a few years after retiring from American Welding and Manufacturing in Warren, and is still a volunteer at 82 years old. "I had retired and was going nuts," he said.
"We began by mainly providing transportation," Courtney said. "We finally realized that some people were so lonely, we added a person-to-person telephone reassurance service.
"Those volunteers that couldn't or didn't want to drive did that," Doran said.
Often, according to Courtney and Doran, the visits to strangers turned into visits to friends. "There were so many people who appreciated having a perfect stranger become a friend," Courtney said.
From clients to friends
"I remember my last client the most vividly," she said. "She lived alone in Boardman, had one son who lived in D.C. We established a very special relationship. Then after six years, she went to a nursing home, and I visited her there. She was a new friend."
"Absolutely," Doran agreed. "If they went to the hospital, you followed them there." He recalled a client whom he called the Butterfly Lady. "Her husband had trouble seeing; she had to be fed by a tube through her stomach. Before that, she raised butterflies in her yard and talked about butterflies in the schools. I took [the couple] to the doctor's and to shop."
When Doran's granddaughter visited, he took her to see the Butterfly Lady. "She took [us] in the yard, and it was wonderful," he said. Her husband died first, and she went to a nursing home, Doran said, adding, "She never complained."
Is such an ending tough on volunteers?
"It is," Courtney said, "but you were doing something important. And every one was so unique; it was a lesson on humanity."
Added Doran, "Sometimes you felt you couldn't leave them, they were so lonely. But it was always a good feeling driving away. It gets in your blood and becomes an avocation -- something you want to do and don't have to. The rewards are inside. I don't want to sound like a minister -- "
"Pollyanna," Courtney interrupted.
"But thank God there are so many volunteers."
Needs more volunteers
But, in fact, Volunteer Service to Seniors needs more volunteers of all ages, said Virginia Leskanic, executive director. Though the program now has nearly 100 volunteers, it has 400 clients. To get involved, call Donna Bruno, at (330) 782-5877.
If you, or someone you know, is 60 or older and has a need for friendly visits, telephone reassurance, or occasional grocery or doctors visits, you can call Ruby Pinson, (330) 782-5835.
murphy@vindy.com