A hug and a heartfelt thanks are all the payment Don Vick wants or needs.
At least once a month, Vick, 76, climbs behind the wheel of a Sudan Shriners van to drive a sick child to and from one of the organization’s 22 hospitals for children. On any trip, Vick and an assigned partner could be carrying a child with cerebral palsy, an amputated limb, a bone disease, a cleft palate or other conditions.
The trips mean long hours on the road, killing time in hospital waiting rooms and staying in hotel rooms far from home. Even considering all that, Vick said the work he has done since becoming a volunteer driver in 2007 for the Shriners’ Road Runner program is some of the most significant in his life.
“I think what I am doing overshadows the downsides,” said Vick of Rocky Mount. “I get a lot of self-satisfaction out of what I do.”
Despite only joining the Road Runners driving group in 2007, Vick already has logged 116 trips to Shriner hospitals, covering thousands of miles, said Donna Horton, Sudan Hospital patient services coordinator. Vick has driven 104 trips to Greenville, S.C., 10 to Cincinnati and two to Philadelphia.
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At least once a month, Vick, 76, climbs behind the wheel of a Sudan Shriners van to drive a sick child to and from one of the organization’s 22 hospitals for children. On any trip, Vick and an assigned partner could be carrying a child with cerebral palsy, an amputated limb, a bone disease, a cleft palate or other conditions.
The trips mean long hours on the road, killing time in hospital waiting rooms and staying in hotel rooms far from home. Even considering all that, Vick said the work he has done since becoming a volunteer driver in 2007 for the Shriners’ Road Runner program is some of the most significant in his life.
“I think what I am doing overshadows the downsides,” said Vick of Rocky Mount. “I get a lot of self-satisfaction out of what I do.”
Despite only joining the Road Runners driving group in 2007, Vick already has logged 116 trips to Shriner hospitals, covering thousands of miles, said Donna Horton, Sudan Hospital patient services coordinator. Vick has driven 104 trips to Greenville, S.C., 10 to Cincinnati and two to Philadelphia.
more The Rocky Mount Telegram