In April of 2000 Betsy Rubenstein came to MGH to start volunteering. Betsy was on leave from work and in the process of planning a wedding, but wanted something to "fill her week". Fill it we did and in the process, we discovered a remarkable young woman! Betsy divided her week between the Volunteer Department and the Central Information Desk. When we needed her to cover our reception desk in the Volunteer Office, Betsy gladly said yes. When we needed someone to cover a missed shift at the Central Information Desk, Betsy again, came though for us. When Pat had a cross-country project involving the national association of Volunteer Directors, Betsy agreed to organize and collect data from colleges across the country offering educational programs and concentrations in volunteer administration. Those efforts, alone, have yielded substantive dialogues with two universities.

Now, one would think that after her wedding and return to work, Betsy would have said her "good-byes" to us. Thankfully that was not the case. Instead, she switched her volunteer time to evenings and has been our office volunteer on Monday and Wednesday evenings since. Betsy greets new volunteers and helps them through the jitters and confusion of their first day of volunteering. She is a familiar presence to greet and share a moment or two with regular evening volunteers as they arrive for their shifts. She continues to help Paul, Sam and Rachel with various office projects, including sharing her professional opinion on the department's new website and occasionally lending a little industry know-how to Paul. Betsy has done it all for us - with intelligence, wit, and personality. She demonstrated a remarkable dedication to the MGH and lived out a belief that volunteers make a remarkable difference in the lives of patients, families, and staff. In this quick year, Betsy contributed a total of 355 hours. This is the first time the Jessie Harding Award is being presented to a volunteer with one year of volunteer service. Thank you Betsy.