
Interested in giving a few hours of your time each week to uplift others?
Zoom orientation will be scheduled after online training completion.
Volunteers with Hawai‘i Care Choices complete a 10-hour online training course and one day of virtual instruction. Volunteer training covers many topics including—the palliative and hospice philosophy of care, communicating with the dying, boundaries, and grief support for patients and families.
Why I Volunteer



What Can Volunteers Do?
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Be a companion & Sit with Patients
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Give Caregivers a Break
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Provide Transportation
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Provide Yardwork Assistance
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Comfort the Grieving
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Help with Light Household Chores and Errands
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Write Letters and Stories
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Assist in Office Clerical Tasks
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Participate in Community Events
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Share your Talents or Skills
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Make a Difference Across our Community Every Day
![]() JACK | ![]() MOCHI | ![]() ADAKA |
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![]() LAKA | ![]() CODY |

Need
We are especially in need of volunteers willing to do the following:
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Offer Massage (must be a Licensed Massage Therapist)
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Provide Transportation (must have Insurance)
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Work with veterans
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Give support for community events and outreach activities
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Gardening/Maintenance (Exempt from volunteer training course requirement)
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Participate in Our Veteran to Veteran Program
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Currently our greatest needs for volunteers are in Hamakua, North/South Hilo, Puna, and Kau.
Contact
If you are interested in becoming a HiCare Volunteer, please complete our online volunteer application.
You can contact Volunteer Coordinators, Taira Kapahu or Adrienne Saballa,
at 969-1733 or Email Volunteer@hawaiicarechoices.org to schedule your required pre-training interview.

Featured Volunteer Story
Martie Buchanan
I love respite duty. Hospice saved my sanity when I was an overwhelmed, sleep-deprived caregiver. So I wanted to give back.
Whenever I came to see my favorite “auntie,” she would beam me with her infectious smile and pat the seat next to her. “I’m glad to see you. Come sit. Let’s talk story.” Being 102 years old, she had some good ones, with photos too - growing up on a sugar plantation, one of 13 children. Tales of joy, of hardship and humor, charmed me back to another time.
Then there was my weekly visit with a lovely, soft-spoken lady, spent mostly in companionable silence on her daughter’s lanai, looking through flowering shrubs at the ocean and idly paging through the New York Times. We enjoyed warm breezes and were amused by the resident kittens. I felt I was the one who got the respite.
I was present when a patient died, his wife, the love of his life, by his side. I witnessed how the staff treated him with such tenderness and respect, not as another patient but as a man, with a history, a family and worthy of honor. That was a powerful experience I hold dear to my heart.
In a home full of fabulous treasures and photos from a well-traveled life, I sit with a patient who is bedridden so his partner can run out for a quick swim and shop. In spite of the huge responsibility he carries, this caregiver is always upbeat with a ready laugh. I had to ask him how he does it. His secret, he says, is giving up perfectionism. The advice I take to heart.
I could go on and on. Actually, most of the time nothing happens. The patient sleeps, I read. But there are the jewels - often seen in retrospect. If you want to learn about courage, spend time with those to whom the inevitable is close. Meet their caregivers. Observe the caring staff. Therein lies inspiration. Plus it feels good to be useful.