Minnesota volunteers discuss rewards of foster grandparenting and other roles
Sando Cooke
Minneapolis, 79
Volunteer Roles
Foster grandmother at Catholic Charities Northside Child Development Center
Volunteer challenge
During the month of March, The Star Tribune will be exploring the various elements of volunteering, from how to find an opportunity that fits you to how helping others can have a boomerang effect and make your life better.
How I chose to volunteer in this area
In Africa [Monrovia, capital city of the West African country Liberia], also in day care, I worked in taking care of children, too. So I love children.
Most rewarding aspects of volunteering
When I'm in the house, there's nobody to talk with, I only think about what I've seen in the war [in Liberia]. People's dead bodies lying there. Those are my memories. So when I came to the day care, it made me happy to be with the kids. I see my children in the kids. So, I love it. I came here to play with the children. When the children play with me I get so happy. They call me Grandma. "Grandma" makes me happy. It makes me feel good. So, the program is lovely because they made me feel good. I won't be thinking again, no more. Not while I'm here. I love children. I like to play with kids very much, it makes me happy. When they see me they run, "Grandma, Grandma, Grandma!"
Norma Bourland
Retired, Minneapolis, 79
Volunteer Roles
Instructor and development committee member since Oct. 2022 with FreeWriters, which offers creative writing opportunities to inmates in the county jail system to improve mental health, reduce recidivism and inspire hope about life after incarceration.
How I chose to volunteer in this area
I love writing and am an essayist and blogger. One of my adult sons struggles with lifelong drug addiction and is in and out of incarceration. He always does better when he writes or journals. Volunteering for FreeWriters was a way to identify with him and do something I knew would make a difference for people like him.
Most rewarding aspects of volunteering
I have limited finances so am unable to donate much, but I have a wealth of free time. I've enjoyed getting to know the creative, smart, caring people involved with FreeWriters. They enrich my life, encourage me to be my best self and remind me how full the world is of good people! Being inside the jail with the women locked up, hearing their stories from their writing and giving them the respect of listening has softened my heart and expanded my empathy. I feel an affinity with my incarcerated, drug addicted son when I interact with the inmate writers.
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Randy Anderson
Founder and coach at Bold North Recovery, Golden Valley, 52
Volunteer Roles
Advocate and citizen lobbyist for Restore the Vote (state law passed this month, restoring voting rights to those with a felony conviction but out of prison) testifies before the Legislature about criminal justice reform, leads free trainings in using naloxone (emergency treatment for opioid overdose) for law enforcement officers and other groups.
How I chose to volunteer in this area
I spent five years in prison for a drug charge and am in recovery, later had three family members die of opioid-related causes. While earning an associate degree in addiction counseling, I became interested in overdose prevention and criminal justice reform.
Most rewarding aspects of volunteering
I participated in a phone bank and thought, this is the coolest thing I've ever done. I didn't know there were people out there that were so passionate about a cause or an issue that they would be willing to cold-call random people to say, "Hey have you heard of Restore the Vote? Would you be willing to contact your elected official?" A big part of my recovery journey is being of service. People helped me when I couldn't help myself, so whatever that looks like for me, I need to do that.
Rebekah Robinson
Sophomore at Bethel University in St. Paul, from St. Croix Falls, Wis., 20
Volunteer Roles
Outreach director for Student Ministries, a branch of Bethel Student Government, plans events on campus and in the community, including leading groups of students to hand out food and supplies and offer prayers and conversation to homeless people in Minneapolis.
How I chose to volunteer in this area
I heard about Bethel's Student Ministries program and thought that it was super cool. ... After stepping into this role as director, I really knew that there were a lot of people on our campus that wanted to help this community, so I just started finding ways to make it happen.
Most rewarding aspects of volunteering
I cannot stress enough that none of us [students] ever stand there feeling completely equipped, or know what we're going to say, or know what we're going to encounter. But we firmly believe that we're called by God to do this, and he equips us with what we need. For us as Christians, we're going out in the hopes of spreading the good news, changing hearts and brightening people's days. But our hearts are the ones that are changed as well.