Volunteer Spotlight: Joyce Wampler

She takes the lead in organizing the Bridgewater Home Auxiliary’s nine fundraising lunches each year, each serving 180-200 people. It’s a lot of work for Joyce Wampler and her fellow volunteers, but the delicious result is happily appreciated by the many repeat customers. All told, the lunches brought in more than $9,000 in the past year to help support Bridgewater Home and its residents.

The support is crucial. About 28 percent of BRC’s residents in nursing households, and about 18 percent of Assisted Living residents, have exhausted their personal financial resources and are not able to pay the full monthly fee. Support from the Auxiliary along with many others allows BRC to continue to provide full care for its residents in keeping with its mission of service.

Joyce, a former president of the Auxiliary, knows first-hand the quality of life that BRC provides. Her mother, who first moved to BRC in 2002, now lives in a nursing household.

“We are very, very satisfied,” she says. “The relationships with residents are what drive this place.”

In addition to supporting BRC through the Auxiliary, she is also a proud donor to the Bridgewater HealthCare Foundation. When asked why, she cites the increasing need for care. “It’s important to me to support the top-quality care I see this place giving its residents, to make sure that continues.”

Joyce also volunteers regularly at Cottage Gifts, the gift shop run by the Auxiliary. She keeps busy, looking after a grandchild on Thursdays and joining a women’s group every week for prayer and fellowship. At Bridgewater Church of the Brethren, she is convener for a Sunday School Class. In her spare time, she loves reading mysteries, supporting the Bridgewater College football and basketball teams — both she and her husband are BC graduates — and enjoying the wonderful local dining scene.