Holiday Volunteering at Misericordia
by Barb Quaintance
The holidays are a magical time at Misericordia. The decorations, the music, the sweet smells coming from the bakery, the holiday brunches, the excited residents. A very important part of making the magic happen are the volunteers who give their time and talent to Misericordia.
Did you know…
- So far this year, volunteers have signed up for over 2500 shifts in the bakery.
- The bakery welcomes not only individual volunteers, but groups: corporate groups, school groups, clubs such as the German American Singers, Gays for Good, the Parrotheads (a Jimmy Buffet fan club) and many others. Many Misericordia neighbors also volunteer.
- On the busiest day of the year, the bakery will ship out 1400 holiday gifts, thanks to the work of the bakery staff (permanent and seasonal), volunteers and residents who have meaningful vocational training there. Think about it: that’s close to two full UPS trucks!
- During the three holiday brunches in December, almost 100 volunteers join the fun. Administrative staff also volunteer and, in fact, some retired directors come back to help.
- At the brunches, there are kids selling raffle tickets, people cleaning up, others helping with coat check, while still others pour coffee, run to the dish room and serve champagne. It takes all of those volunteers to serve the 1100 people who will come to the two largest brunches.
- Many volunteers also decorate the campus—and that’s a lot of decorating! Still other volunteers work in the holiday gift shops.
Needless to say, volunteers help in a multitude of ways. But there’s another benefit of volunteers: having friends, families and neighbors help in the bakery or work at the brunches is an impactful way for Misericordia to share the wonderful community we have developed here in Chicago.
If you want to volunteer during the holidays, you can sign up here: https://www.misericordia.com/volunteer/special-event-help/
If you want to set up a long-term volunteer position, you can fill out an application here: https://www.misericordia.com/volunteer/regular-volunteer-opportunities/
Send yours to
