This month, we highlight a volunteer who is now a social work intern at The Center. Kaitlin has been volunteering with The Center since September 2024 and joined us as an intern for this spring semester, 2026.
Originally from Southern Pines, North Carolina, Kaitlin moved to Raleigh in August of 2024 after transferring to NC State University from Sandhills Community College. The move to Raleigh was a dream come true for this lifelong Wolfpack fan. Thanks to class volunteer requirements, Kaitlin quickly found The Center for Volunteer Caregiving and used our transportation program to learn to navigate her new city.
Kaitlin didn’t just choose The Center for convenience. Like so many of our volunteers, her volunteer commitment was personal. By moving to Raleigh, Kaitlin moved away from her parents and grandparents. For the first time in her life, she didn’t get to visit her grandparents weekly. After years of helping care for her grandmother with dementia, this was the most difficult part of her transition to college. It was with all of this in mind that Kaitlin sought out The Center’s unique volunteer opportunities.
As a volunteer, she picked up many rides from the job calendar and found a caregiver respite match with Ruthie. She and Ruthie have a weekly routine of Bingo, Dominoes, Uno, and the Saturday news. If they’re really feeling adventurous, they switch out the news for Family Feud, because who doesn’t want to spend their weekend with Steve Harvey?
Now as an intern, Kaitlin continues to drive around Wake County to help others in The Center’s caregiver respite program and sees Ruthie on the weekends. She is gaining new experiences every week, both in the office and with our amazing care receivers. Kaitlin will graduate in May and will soon thereafter enter the Master’s degree program in Social Work at NC State University. While her time commitments will look different, she hopes to continue to support The Center as a volunteer.
“The Center for Volunteer Caregiving has given me the opportunity to serve a need I see both in Wake County and in my hometown.” Kaitlin shared, “I often wish there were an organization like this that could serve my grandparents. In the meantime, I get to be the volunteer I wish my grandparents could have, and I hope to be a blessing to the families I serve. I know they’ve been a blessing to me.”
