Lending an Extra Hand

Jim Fons, Patience Amundson and Donna Schell sat around a table in the belly of Saint Margaret's Church Parish Hall this week smiling, laughing and sometimes becoming misty-eyed as they recounted the last 22 years of service for a local ministry called Chores and More.

If you asked them, they would tell you that they were the ones who were receiving the bigger blessing, but countless clients would argue otherwise. 

Chores and More is an outreach ministry serving persons of any age in the Broadneck community who may be shut-in, elderly or temporarily homebound who need a short-term helping hand. The program is sponsored by local churches, including:  Asbury United Methodist, Broadneck Baptist, Cape St. Claire United Methodist, Christ Our Anchor Presbyterian, College Parkway Baptist, Gloria Dei! Lutheran, Mt. Calvary Methodist, St. Andrew by the Bay Parish, and St. Margaret's Episcopal.

"Many times, we enable people to stay in their own home for as long as they can," said Amundson.

Volunteers serve as gap fillers who work closely with any group or individual to fill in and perform greatly needed services that otherwise would not get done. Chores and More offers such services as light housework, yard work such as mowing the lawn, picking up medicine or a few groceries, and providing rides to and from doctor appointments or the hospital. Volunteers can also provide information about other community services and resources.

With 27 current volunteers providing this valuable help for their neighbors in need, Chores and More was able to provide a total of 154 services to clients this year.  These services ranged from trips to the doctor to rides to church, trimming shrubs, changing beds and grocery shopping.  Volunteer services are available seven days a week. 

The volunteers hold a special volunteer luncheon once a year to celebrate their success and reflect on all of the lives they have touched that year.

"A lot of our clients have family around, but everyone works. Some clients don't have any children or have limited family nearby. Those are the people we help," explained Schell.  "Whenever I take someone somewhere, it is always a delightful experience."

"It really is very rewarding.  I don't think clients realize that," agreed Amundson. "They just appreciate the service so much and always want to give me something in return, but the blessing is mine."

What their clients do give back, besides extensive verbal appreciation, is a wealth of stories from interesting, full lives. One client had been an elevator operator in Baltimore and was a natural storyteller.  She always had a delightful quip to share with whomever came along to help her.

"We do get close to some of our clients," said Amundson. "Especially the ones who call upon us often.  They become our friends."

Chores and More is run on donations from the churches and from individuals who want to help. There are no requirements in order to receive this service except that the client be a resident of the Broadneck Peninsula. 

And the volunteers are not held to any quota of service. They can help as little or as much as they want -  it is all subject to their own personal schedules.

Chores and More is better able to serve clients when advanced notice is given. "We just need a few days to match a volunteer with a client," explained Fons.  "Very rarely can we provide same day service.  Most of us are retired and have the time and desire to serve, but do need some notice to work it into our schedules."

"I hope that if I am ever in this situation in the future, that there will be someone there to help me remain independent for as long as possible," said Amundson.

 Since the beginning of this ministry Chores and More has kept a scrapbook and a comment book for recording thoughts at the end of each work day.  Amundson and Schell recently flipped through the book, recalling precious clients from years gone by.  The comment book is full of not just the number of clients and volunteers involved in that day's services, but also bits of history from each client's life and thoughts on how a volunteer had been touched by them.  

Recently, a beloved client passed away and the entry in the comment book was, "She passed away peacefully in her own home.  She will be greatly missed by all of us. " 

Pausing for a minute to smile at the memory of that client turned friend, Amundson repeated the words, "in her own home," then looked up and said, "And that's why we do what we do."

To contact representatives for Chores and More, call 410-757-5333.