Sarah's CircleFriends are blessings that sustain our journeys. |
Life changed after Erik died and we began going to another church. There I met Esther Endres who befriended me and showed me many things. Esther had many things that had been challenging in her life, but it did not keep her from giving back in so many ways. She had been volunteer coordinator at First Lutheran for a period of time. When I first knew her, she had stepped down from that position, but was still heavily involved in volunteering and getting others to volunteer. I believe I met Esther through a mutual acquaintance who was linked to the closing of Hissom with residents from there transitioning into the community. I had volunteered there and Esther had had a child there at one time. There were other people at First Lutheran who had had children there or who had some connection or just an interest. Esther, with a bit of help from me, put together a committee of volunteers. Sometimes we went to Hissom as a group and familiarized ourselves with some of the residents there. Our aim was to become friends with those who had no family connections any more. Some of the time at Hissom, families were strongly encouraged to leave a family member and not come back for quite a while so the new resident could make a “good” transition. That really meant that many people had no family connection. Esther was such a good leader and knew how to get others to follow. She was definitely involved, but did not do all the work. I was reminded of this on a Zoom meeting this week with ACTION when a leader from Houston said that your job as a leader is to get others to follow and become leaders as well, not to do the work yourself. Esther was a great example of that. The staff at Hissom were cooperative with our endeavor and thanks to Esther's long connections in the community, our group was even recognized by J.C. Penney and received a Golden Rule Award. We all tried to stay in touch with the person we were matched with once they left Hissom, but that wasn't always possible because of the change in staff at the various locations they went to. I am ever grateful to Esther for friendship, wisdom and guidance. --Carolyn
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January 2022
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