ROD STAUFFER VISITS his friend Gary Halls at least once a week.

Sometimes Stauffer reads the Bible to Halls, or they pray together. When it's nice outside, they sit on the porch.

Mostly they walk.

Sometimes Halls dozes off while Stauffer pushes his wheelchair.

But Stauffer knows they've made a connection.

"I go home feeling as if I've done something worthwhile," he says.

Stauffer, who has visited Halls for six months, is one of 30 Garden Spot Village residents who volunteer with Caring Connections.

They support fellow residents at the New Holland retirement community through life's most difficult — and loneliest — times, like terminal illness, a move, caring for an ailing spouse and even when death draws near.

Caring Connections volunteers gave 900 hours of service last year, says coordinator Carol Wendel, also a Garden Spot Village resident.

"Some of them give more (time) than you can ever imagine," she says.

Volunteers read to residents, take them on walks or play dominoes. But mostly they just talk — and listen — to newfound friends who are grappling with grief or depression.

Both halves of the pair find their lives enriched, sometimes in unexpected ways.

One volunteer, Wendel recalls, visited a prominent local artist going through a tough time.

The artist ended up teaching the volunteer how to paint.

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The idea for Caring Connections originated when Garden Spot Village's chaplains and social workers brainstormed outreach opportunities for the community's 839 residents.

"It's both an opportunity to give and an opportunity to receive," social services director Karen Horning says.

"... It's support at a time (residents) need it the most."

After meeting for a year to develop the program, a task force of residents and staff searched for a coordinator.

Wendel seemed custom-made to lead Caring Connections. A nurse by training, she worked as executive director of a senior center for 18 years, as well as marketing director for a retirement community.

She and her husband Ken moved to Garden Spot Village from Kennett Square in November 2003.

"It was a real blessing for me," Wendel says of her involvement with Caring Connections. "I was missing my friends and my activities back there."

Wendel was the unanimous choice for coordinator. Her experience and caring personality made her a natural fit for the job, Horning says.

"She was perfect," she says. "I kept telling her she was an answer to our prayers."

Caring Connections volunteers visited their first residents in Feb. 2005, Wendel says. Residents are referred by social workers or chaplains.

Volunteers — the oldest of whom is 91 — receive eight hours of training. They may opt out of situations that make them uncomfortable, such as dementia or death, Wendel says.

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Soon after Mary Good lost her husband of 60 years, she moved from a cottage to an apartment, leaving behind many friends.

Good forged an instant connection with volunteer Sally Mittelstadt, who has visited her for more than a year.

They talk about everything, even things Good says she wouldn't tell her sisters.

"I've never had a person I can talk to like I can talk to Sally," she says. " ... She seems to draw me out.

"I just hate it when she leaves."

Between her weekly visits, Mittelstadt slips notes under Good's door, reminding her of her Monday-night bridge game.

"I want to treat people the way I want to be treated when I'm in their shoes," says Mittelstadt, whose husband Vern also volunteers with Caring Connections.

Vern Mittelstadt shows resident Dick Johnson slides of his recent travels. He also keeps Johnson up-to-date on current events.

Johnson, a pilot who was shot down and spent two years in a POW camp, tells World War II stories.

"Basically the Bible says you're supposed to love your neighbor," Vern Mittelstadt says of his volunteer commitment.

He laughs.

"God made me do it."

WANTED: VOLUNTEERS

Caring Connections is looking for volunteers from Garden Spot Village and the community.

For more information, call coordinator Carol Wendel, 355-6765.

CONTACT US: mschweigert@LNPnews.com or 291-8757