Community Home Care & Hospice is looking for volunteers who can offer their time and resources to help care for patients.

Amy Brewer, hospice care consultant and community educator for Community Home, said volunteers can help in a variety of ways, including visiting patients, sending cards or delivering flowers.

Volunteers should be willing to travel and be available at least two to four hours a week.

Brewer said the only requirements are that volunteers must be over the age of 18, pass a background check and go through training. Anyone who wants to volunteer and is under the age of 18 must have a parent with them.

“If they really want to volunteer with us, it is a commitment,” she said. “If we don’t keep our volunteers busy, then they find other things to do.”

Dave and Pat Reeves, both local volunteers, said they decided to get involved about six months ago after receiving a flyer at the Belhaven Senior Center.

Dave Reeves said he sings songs and plays the guitar for patients at assisted living facilities while Pat organizes the music and accompanies him to the performances.

“It’s for us very meaningful,” he said. “It’s something we can give them that nobody else can.”

The patients have different but positive reactions to the music, whether it’s a mostly immobile patient tapping a foot or another patient singing along, Dave Reeves said.

“They all say they enjoy it,” he said.

Pat Reeves said the most rewarding part of volunteering is seeing the smiles on the patients’ faces and knowing they are making a difference.

“You know that you’re reaching someone,” she said.

Brewer said Community Home Care looks for volunteers year-round, and although the number fluctuates, the program would like to have at least 10 volunteers.

“I mean, they’re vital,” she said. “The people that we have are just dear to us.”