National Volunteer Appreciation Month

By: Kris Kerlin

Across this country April is celebrated as National Volunteer Appreciation Month. Established in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush who launched the 1000 Points of Light campaign, April is a celebration of the joy of people helping people and people giving of their time and talents to make a difference in the community.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to you, our CanCare family. CanCare is a special volunteer community because we are a survivorship community of people who have experience with a cancer journey. Not only do our volunteers have experience with cancer, but they freely and generously choose to offer that experience to others who are newly embarking on their own journey. When you’ve dealt with cancer, you don’t owe anyone anything and yet, our volunteers pay it forward and make something good come from something life changing. You are making a difference in the lives of people. Thank you so very much!

What started with one volunteer, one woman, Anne Turnage, a stage 4 colon cancer survivor, wanting to lessen the despair of the people she met while she was going through cancer, has become a national support to hundreds in its 33-year history.

It was an absolute delight to celebrate CanCare’s birthday at the place that it all began, Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church on April 12. Our first in-person volunteer event since the pandemic began, we had volunteers from class number 2 all the way through to the most recent class 116 represented among the guests. Thank you for coming together!