“Volunteering with Blue Ridge Care has really changed the way I look at life. It is embracing every day and finding the beauty in every day.”
For Barbara Ray, that lesson has been one of the greatest gifts of her 13 years as a volunteer with Blue Ridge Care.
When Barbara first became familiar with Blue Ridge Hospice, she carried many of the same misconceptions about end-of-life care that many often do. She viewed it as something sad and frightening, focused solely on dying. “I had that negative connotation of hospice originally,” Barbara recalls. “I thought of it as scary, depressing, the end of life.” What she discovered instead was an organization built on compassion, dignity, and a commitment to walking alongside people as life changes, needs evolve, and new challenges arise.
An Unexpected Introduction
Barbara first learned about Blue Ridge Hospice while volunteering in the hospital gift shop on the Cork Street campus.
Through conversations with Blue Ridge Hospice team members, family members, and visitors, she noticed something that stood out to her. “It really touched me how caring and personable they were,” she says.
Inspired by those interactions, Barbara asked whether the organization needed volunteers. What she learned surprised her. Beyond direct patient care, there were many more opportunities to support the mission through administrative work, thrift shops, and numerous behind-the-scenes roles.
“I wasn’t sure at the time if I would feel connected to providing patient care, but there’s so much more to it than direct patient care,” she says.
Her volunteer journey began in Human Resources, where she helped organize files and assist with projects. “It really was a great way for me to start with Blue Ridge Care,” she says.
A Different Understanding of Hospice
Since then, Barbara has become a patient family support volunteer, expanding her service beyond administrative work and into director support for patients and caregivers.
Over time, hospice came to represent something very different for Barbara than she once imagined. Rather than focusing on a single chapter at the end of life, she saw how compassionate care could support both patients and families through an important part of their journey.
In recent months, Barbara became a patient and family support volunteer, expanding her service beyond administrative work and into direct support for patients and caregivers.
She also witnessed the impact hospice has on family caregivers.
As a patient family volunteer, Barbara would often go to a patient’s home to spend time with them, allowing the primary caregiver to step away for a few hours.
“Being able to give them a break to go to a doctor’s appointment, to go to the grocery store, to just walk outside and have a breath of fresh air without being concerned who’s watching their loved one is just huge,” she says. “People don’t realize that those are things that can be provided by Blue Ridge Care.”
Finding the Beauty in Every Day
Today, looking back on more than a decade of service, Barbara believes volunteering has given her far more than an opportunity to help others. It has changed the way she views life itself.
“It really makes you appreciate this great life that we have,” she says. “It’s a roller coaster ride, so make the most of it.”
That lesson has become the thread connecting every part of her journey: the people she has met, the families she has supported, and the mission she has proudly served for the past 13 years.
“I feel fortunate to be able to volunteer. I’m excited that I chose Blue Ridge Care as a place to give my time.”
Through service, compassion, and connection, Barbara has learned that life rarely follows a straight path. There are unexpected turns, difficult seasons, obstacles you never see coming, and moments when you need someone to walk beside you.
That’s why the work of Blue Ridge Care matters so deeply to her.
Whether someone needs support early in a health journey, during a difficult season, or while navigating loss, Barbara has seen firsthand the difference compassionate care can make.
