It’s often said that volunteers are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations.
“Our organization couldn’t run without volunteers,” admits Carol Bowers, volunteer services coordinator at Neighbors Who Care. “We appreciate every day, every dollar, every hour given.” NWC, a 20-year-old, nonprofit agency and winner of a 2012 Piper Trust Encore Prize for Exceptional Organizations, serves residents of Sun Lakes/Chandler. Its mission is to help homebound and disabled seniors remain in their homes as comfortably and as long as possible.
To accomplish this, NWC provides transportation for medical appointments, shopping trips and personal errands. It also offers respite relief for caregivers, service for minor in-home repairs and dinner deliveries. It provides Medicare-benefits counseling and has recently initiated a new program to assist patients discharged from hospitals. None of this could be accomplished if it were not for a special kind of caring person.
Gladys Chernick is one such person. She has been volunteering at NWC for only a year or two, but her desire to help others blossomed early. At age 13, while attending to her hospitalized father, she decided to become a nurse. She always wanted to help others, “to make a difference in other people’s lives,” she says.
Born and raised in Fall River, MA, Gladys graduated from high school in 1951 at age 16 and dreamed of entering nursing school. However, because her father continued to be extremely ill and, therefore, unemployed, Gladys was compelled to become the working support of her family.
It wasn’t until age 36 that she finally had the opportunity to enter nursing school and pursue her lifelong dream. After earning her Registered Nurse certificate, she worked at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MA, where she won the Award for Proficiency in Nursing. But working nights and weekends didn’t allow her enough family time.
So, about a year later, when a nursing job with more desirable hours opened at the Jewish Nursing Home of Western Massachusetts, Gladys applied for the position and was instantly hired. She worked there for 24 years and became the director of their adult day care center, helping to design a model program for the State of Massachusetts. At the same time, she continued her education and earned her bachelor’s degree in human services and a master’s degree in clinical psychology. The mayor of Springfield appointed her to the Area Agency on Aging, where she served for 21 years, organizing educational seminars for doctors, lawyers and caregivers for the elderly. She also taught classes to professional caregivers at American International College in Springfield and at the University of Massachusetts.
One of her proudest achievements was working with her colleague, Sister Mary Connally; together they administered a pilot program to train family caregivers.
“Sister Mary was the social worker and I was the RN,” says Gladys. “We traveled all over the state, teaching family members how to care for loved ones.” Gladys’ program was scheduled to run for only one year, but it was so successful that it lasted 12 years.
While engaged in all these activities, Gladys hoped to enter a Ph.D. program. However, her husband had a debilitating stroke and required full-time care. Once again the sole family provider, Gladys managed his care at home for the next six years until his death in 1991. And all this time, she continued to administer the adult day care program at the Jewish Nursing Home.
In 1996, suffering health problems of her own, Gladys retired from her nursing career and, three years later, moved to Chandler to be close to her grandchildren. Once more, having time to spare, she wanted to participate in her community’s activities. Consequently, she joined the Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation and sang in their choir for 12 years. Also, she became active in the Jewish War Veterans post 128, which led to a 12-year stint as a volunteer at Chandler’s Frye Elementary School, where she tutored kindergarteners and second- graders in reading. As if this weren’t enough, she volunteered at Chandler Hospital. And, most recently, she signed on at NWC, helping in the office and making phone calls to other volunteers to remind them of upcoming events.
Carol Bowers praises Gladys for “always being right in the middle of everything. Gladys gets so much done because she leads the way.”
But Gladys is not unique in this respect. She typifies the wonderful spirit of volunteers, those giving people whose selfless efforts mean so much to the success of all nonprofit organizations. Without them, the world would be a much grimmer place.
So, thank you, Gladys Chernick and all volunteers like you. Your contributions will always be admired and appreciated.
Joni Browne-Walders is a playwright, freelance writer and editor.
