Volunteer
“Valentine’s Day, last year, was my first day,” grins Sophia Covey, a child life care partner volunteer at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital Santa Monica. “I’m a nursing major, so I was looking for an internship or volunteer opportunity with UCLA Health because they have such a good reputation. I [...]
“The miracle of animals finding purpose and people finding healing is nothing short of a miracle,” believes Ellie Laks, founder of Gentle Barn and speaker during the People-Animal Connection luncheon. “After sitting here for the last two hours [...]
“This is our annual holiday recognition event to honor many of our volunteers,” explains Carey McCarthy (not pictured), director of volunteers at UCLA Health. “We have some volunteers who are serving today and some people who came in special for [...]
“When Santa connects with the child, you see their eyes light up and their heart open, and it’s just a sweet moment,” reflects Bob Anger, who has been wearing the red suit as Santa Claus for more than 25 years.
“We host art workshops every quarter on different units of the hospital”,” explains Talya Katzman, supervisor for volunteer services at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica. “It’s a fun, creative way to get patients out of their [...]
“Petting the dogs is very, very therapeutic,” explains Lindsay Kim, a registered nurse at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
“We’re not curing cancer, but I know we’ve made a difference,” believes Anna Liau, a People-Animal Connection (PAC) volunteer.
“The dogs always make her smile,” reveals Lisa Salgado, mother of 26-year-old Maria Salgado. Christmas carol singing People-Animal Connection volunteers visited the Salgado family at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
“We sang Christmas carols with dogs, and it was really transformative,” reflects Luke Apodaca, a UCLA College of Letters and Sciences student who volunteered to help the People-Animal Connection (PAC) dog teams at