Any reason to volunteer is a good reason. But our Information Technology (IT) volunteer Jerry has a very good reason.
At Health Care Center for the Homeless we have a great team of tireless volunteers. They cover a wide range of duties that help our clinic run just a little bit smoother week in and week out. One of those volunteers is Jerry.
Since the summer of 2013, Jerry has come to the clinic once a week for several hours to assist with general IT needs and repairs. Jerry first came to our clinic, Orange Blossom Family Health, not as a volunteer, but as a devoted son.
His dad has been a patient with us since 2011. Despite 30 years with the same company, Jerry’s dad was laid off and fell on financial struggles. Because of preexisting medical conditions, he was in desperate need of a medical home that would take him. A friend referred him here. Jerry’s mother, who was homeless in Casselberry when she passed away, was also able to use organizations like ours in her lifetime.
After accompanying his father to an appointment, Jerry saw there was a need here and he knew he wanted to give back to this organization that has helped his father so much.
“Everyone really cares here,” Jerry says. “I don’t know how they do it—always having energy and a positive attitude that gives that population hope. Sure, there are tough days. But whenever I’m here everyone on staff is like ‘I’m going to do whatever I possibly can to help.’ And that goes all the way to the higher-ups. I’ve seen the CEO stop and help someone that needed it.”
Jerry is appreciative of an organization where he can put his IT skills to use in a volunteer capacity and for the effect our services have had on his father.
“He takes better care of himself now,” Jerry says of his father. “He’s more educated now—before he would kind of take his medication, but he barely did what he needed to do to manage his health. Now, because of the education he’s received here, he’s taking a lot better care of himself. He speaks highly of this place. The level of care and the attention his doctor gave him—it really made a great
impact on him.”
Health Care Center for the Homeless 