Never regretting a single day

Ken Stankiewicz volunteers for Ambassador Services at Memorial Hospital, while his wife, Nancy, works as an Administrative Services associate in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Beacon Children’s Hospital.

Ken remembers Nancy “gently coaxing” him about a year after he retired, to look into volunteering.

“The fact was that I really had no interest in giving up my free time so soon after the end of my working life,” he admits.

But all that changed just as soon as he became an ambassador at Memorial, where Nancy has worked for more than 45 years.

“Sixteen years later, I’m still at it and have not regretted a single day,” Ken says. “Not a day goes by when I don’t feel needed. I guess that I did not realize that so many people needed so much help in so many ways. When I made that discovery, my negativity melted away, and it was a given that I would continue in this endeavor for as long as I could.”

Over the years, Ken says he has been very fortunate to be able to convince other friends and acquaintances about the value of volunteering.

“Each one of these new volunteers is gratification in itself for me,” he says. And every time he has been able to convince someone to give of themselves to volunteer, it has not only benefited the hospital and health system, he says, “but also all the needy people who come to Memorial for much needed help.”