Volunteer of the Week: Sara Ritter, Blue Ridge Hospice
January 11, 2006, Winchester Star

Sara Ritter, 17, is a Blue Ridge Hospice volunteer and works weekly in the residential unit alongside adult volunteers at hospice on Cork Street in Winchester. "I help patients get up after their afternoon naps and go for dinner in the dining room," said Sara, who has been a hospice volunteer for almost a year.

"Then after dinner, I'll check with them to see if they need something else. Some of them like an extra cup of coffee after dinner." Sara also helps feed those who can't feed themselves and sits with patients who need extra attention. Sara said she really enjoys her volunteer job. "The people are so amazing and helping them is one of the best things I can do." It's not easy, though, when one of her patients dies. "But I know they are moving on to some place where they're not in pain," Sara said.

Sara is a James Wood High School senior. She lives with her parents, Kelly and Pamela Ritter, in Brucetown, north of Winchester. She has an older sister, Stacey Carpenter. In addition to her work with hospice, Sara is secretary of her school's DECA chapter, which is a service club affiliated with the marketing department, and is a member of Interact, a club sponsored by Rotary.

When not at school or hospice, Sara enjoys reading mystery novels, listening to music, and hanging out with her friends. She also is a cashier a Target in Winchester and works about 20 hours a week. Following graduation in the spring of 2006, Sara hopes to study accounting at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. "But I might go to Lord Fairfax Community College (north of Middletown) first and then transfer to JMU," she said.

For as long as she lives at home, though, Sara said she will continue her volunteer work with Blue Ridge Hospice. "It's been good for me because it has helped me be able to help my grandmother, who is ill," Sara said. "It's also made me think twice before I speak because you never know what is ahead of you."

-Linda McCarty