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Mickey, a retiree who worked many years for Marvin’s and Goldkist, has been volunteering for nine years at HMC, a nonprofit agency based in Albertville that provides home and inpatient care for the terminally ill. Linda, a retired registered nurse who still works part-time, has been volunteering there for three years.

Mickey, who turned 68 on Saturday, is one of about 270 people who volunteer in a variety of ways to help HMC fulfill its mission.

Mickey is an all-purpose volunteer, who does whatever is needed, whether it’s building wheel-chair ramps, painting rooms, sitting with patients or using his handyman skills for maintenance jobs. He has taken a patient fishing, and he helped build a 36-foot-long bulletin board, which extends along one of the hallways at Shepherd’s Cove, HMC’s 10-bed inpatient facility.

“Linda worked at Hospice at one time, and that kind of got me started,” Mickey said.

Linda, 65, enjoys spending time with hospice patients, especially sitting with them to spell family members.

“I’ve been on both sides of the bed,” Linda said, noting her father and mother died at Shepherd’s Cove. “I didn’t become a nurse until I was 42. My first husband died of cancer in 1978. My doctor was in Birmingham. There was no hospice or home health then.”

That’s why Linda knows how lucky Sand Mountain is to have an agency like HMC nearby.

“I’ve fed patients and washed clothes,” she said. “There’s always something to do. There are crafts and office work.”

Linda said she even performed house-sitting duties for a deceased patient while the family attended the funeral.

Mickey enjoys spending time with patients as well. He spent four hours every Thursday for about six months with one Boaz man.

“I thought it was a one-day thing,” he said. “I got acquainted with him, and I started looking forward to going.”

Mickey also took a Guntersville man fishing.

“He’d take a nap occasionally, and I’d sit there and read,” he said.

Mickey said his favorite volunteer activity is building wheel-chair ramps, while Linda likes making gift boxes out of greeting cards for patients.

“These two have big hearts,” Denton said.

Linda said she has witnessed the power of spirituality at Hospice.

“You see a lot of people make real commitments to God and to their families,” she said. “It’s all about living, not dying.”

Denton said volunteers are the heart of hospice care and hopes to add more to her roster Jan. 30. That’s when HMC is holding a volunteer training class at 408 Martling Road in Albertville. Cost is $10 for a training manual and lunch. For information, call Denton at 891-7724.