Pastor Randy Derrick: Well, the volunteers here at Newberry Hospital make it a hometown environment. You know, the hospital is a central place in our community and in all of our lives. Whether we want to be here or not, oftentimes we end up here.

Sandra Oxner: I've been a volunteer for five years. In 2009, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. We came here for treatment. After he passed away, I wanted a way to give back to the community and help those patients that were coming in like we were, afraid and not knowing what to expect. I thought that it would be so giving for me to be able to go back and tell that person coming in, I have been where you've been. I wasn't alone. You are not alone. There is somebody here that really knows what you're going through. You gain a family.

Zoiee Jamison: It does feel like a family because I feel like we can work as a unit, and teamwork is really the most important thing. And it is those smaller jobs that really do make a hospital run and work as a great unit. Coming on board as a junior volunteer, you do many things, anywhere from wiping down wheelchairs the first year to setting out new magazines. And then the next year, you can do things that you might want to take a true career in, such as the maternity unit or where I hope to be the anesthesiology unit.

Pastor Randy Derrick: My role as a volunteer chaplain here at Newberry Hospital, there's about 10 pastors, 10 of the local pastors, who take turns serving a week at a time. The patients give us permission to come, and we pray for them. And just us being able to be there with them, to hold their hand or to just be in the room so that they can see us there, brings a sense of peace and hope and calmness and tranquility to them. Life is often too real. It's just too intense. And so God's peace at those times is so important and life-saving and life-changing.

Sandra Oxner: It has been such a wonderful experience to me, to be able to feel like I'm giving back, to help just to hold somebody's hand, to give them a warm blanket. And at the end of the day, I have received way more than I will ever give.