Serving at Kitty Askins
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on April 11, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Donna Phillips hands Roberta Shepherd a plate with a chicken biscuit Tuesday morning at Kitty Askins Hospice as a group from the Rotary Club serves breakfast as a community service project. Phillips, who was visiting a friend, was invited to take part in the annual breakfast available for patients, their friends and family and staff.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
April Tripp prepares plates with biscuits, doughnuts and grits for a few of the patients to enjoy Tuesday morning.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Donna Phillips and April Tripp prepare bowls of grits that Tripp will deliver to a few of the patients at Kitty Askins Hospice Center Tuesday morning as a group from the Rotary Club serves breakfast as a community service project. The annual breakfast was available for patients, their friends and family and staff.
When members of the Rotary Club of Goldsboro take breakfast to Kitty Askins Hospice Center, they are providing more than a meal. They are showing people there that they care.
The Rotary Club provides breakfast to the facility once a year as one of its service projects. Tuesday, they took doughnuts, a variety of biscuits, miniature chicken biscuits and grits. They also served hot coffee and cold orange juice.
They invited patients, family members and staff to have breakfast on them.
"We've been doing this project five years," said Rotary Club president-elect Donna Phillips. "It actually started as an outgrowth of United Way's Days of Caring. Then we've just continued on because it's such a joyous thing for us to be able to give back to the families. All of us in Rotary feel like this hospice center is a great gift to our community."
Rotary members spread the breakfast out on a table in a side room, and families came to get something for their family members and themselves. Staff also stopped by for a quick bite.
"I just think it gives the families a break from having to worry about leaving to go grab something offsite," said Rotary president Kyle Saylors. "Family members get very anxious when they have to leave. And they're very thankful for a little bit of warm food in the morning to kind of get them going for the day."
Phillips and Saylors both know how it feels to have loved ones in Kitty Askins.
Phillips has had more than one family member there.
"It was a great blessing to our family," she said. "I certainly understand what it means when you're here long hours and you're caring for someone you love. Something as simple as someone sharing food with you or a kind word can help those long days go by."
Two of Saylors' grandparents and two of his wife's grandparents were also at Kitty Askins.
"There are so many people in our club that have been affected by Kitty Askins, having family members here," Saylors said. "Bringing breakfast is something we thought of doing, and it's the least we can do."
Jewel Grantham got her husband some yogurt and grits and a sausage and egg biscuit for herself. Her husband, Lee, 88, fell and broke his hip last September, was in the hospital a week, then went to a rehab facility for a while. He was taken to Kitty Askins Nov. 10.
"He's getting weaker now and has some Parkinson's," Jewel said. "He had a restless night last night."
She said her son stops by every morning before going to work to bring her food from home or something he's stopped to pick up for her.
"I called him this morning and told him not to bring me anything," Jewel said. "We're thankful for Rotary, they're doing a good job. We're proud of all of them."
Caregiver Helen Melton picked up a couple of doughnuts for 83-year-old Etta Bradshaw to go along with her coffee.
"It's a treat for her," Melton said. "I think it's wonderful."
Charlette Corbett is a nurse on the acute hallway. She said everybody at Kitty Askins was very appreciative of the breakfast.
"The families just love it when people come in because so many times, they're stuck here and they're eating snacks from our little kitchen," she said. "It's nice when people come in because sometimes that's the only good meal they get when they're here. A lot of times, they don't want to leave their family member."
And it's not just about the food.
"They also get the feeling that somebody cares," Corbett said. "It makes them feel like people think about them because it's a sad time for people to go through and it's definitely a time when they need a lot of support. It doesn't take much to make them feel just a little bit better about what they're going through."
Kitty Askins social worker Beth Brown picked up an egg and sausage biscuit to start her day.
"Rotary does this every year," she said. "And they do it for the families, patients and staff. It's a wonderful thing they do, we're very blessed to have them."
She also said it's more than just a meal.
"It shows people here that others care about them," Brown said. "It keeps family from having to run out to get something to eat and chance leaving their loved one."