"It seems like God sent Partners in Care"

As a driver for Partners in Care, you never really know what you will encounter in a ride. Most of the time, the rides are just sweet little visits with someone in your community, but sometimes, they can mean the world to someone in need.

Lena and I met on an oppressively hot afternoon at the Brooklyn Park Senior Center. Her husband had been a member for years and had enjoyed the service of our volunteers but Lena, who never learned to drive, was a very independent woman who enjoyed walking around her small community. However, today, as we stood talking in the air conditioned lobby and watching the heat raise in waves off the sidewalk, that independence looked... well, hot. So Lena accepted an offer of a drive in an air conditioned car back to her home, where we shared lunch and stories.
It seemed within days I was heading back over to her home to interview her to become a member of our program. In the next few months, Partners became a trustworthy addition to her network of support for her appointments. By December, her husband's health was failing, and he had been in a series of surgeries to try and save him. However, in the midst of all of this, Lena still needed to go to her own doctor's appointments. One of these simple appointments, on a ride with a Partners in Care volunteer, turned into one of the beautiful acts of community we are privileged to see everyday.


"I had been all night in my husband's hospital room, so that morning, my daughter took me home so Partners in Care could take me to the cancer center. We didn't know he was dying, he had just gone to dialysis, so I went home. She took me to the cancer center where we had a long wait. The lady from Partners in Care's name was Janet. She was from Boston. After my appointment, she took me to Shoppers to pick up a few things before taking me home because I hadn't' had anything to eat that day. When we got home, all I wanted to do was eat my lunch, so when the phone rang, I asked her, " If that phone rings, I'm not going to answer it cause i haven't had no lunch. Don't answer it unless its the hospital, but if its them, please just say hello". And she said, its your daughter. I picked up the phone, and Rebecca said, "Mom, Dad's going to die, you have to come." and I said "Oh, my, I dont even have a way to get there". And Janet took me to the hospital. All the way up to Union Memorial. When we got there, she even offered to come in and stay with me. But she had already done enough. Without her, I would never have made it to my daughter's side, and I don't want any of credit to come to me, it was all her. When your husbands dying and you got nobody, and you can drive, what are you going to do? Well it seems like God sent Partners in Care."