FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Hospice has a special person who grants patients’ wishes. Her name is Monte Landis.
The 64-year-old former Iowa farmer’s work as the plant sale coordinator earned the hospice a record $25,275 last year, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported (https://bit.ly/2peVtiF ).
Landis’ fundraising has supplied much comfort, including a man’s request to look out a window in his final days. Hospice purchased and installed the window thanks to Landis.
“It feeds my soul,” she said. “I am doing work with a purpose, with a meaning.
“If you truly give, you will get back tenfold. I am serious about this. It can be in the form of friendship, money. You know, the universe takes care of you.”
Landis says she hopes to outdo that mark during this year’s sale, which is scheduled for May 27. All funds raised at this month’s plant sale directly benefit hospice patients and their families.
Having volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations, and having lost family members to cancer, Landis says lending her services to the hospice was necessary.
“They let you die with honor and dignity and respect,” Landis said.
Landis visited Fairbanks in 2003. She liked it so much, she moved to the city in 2004 after getting married.
“It was wonderful coming up here,” she said.
Landis has worked as a substitute teacher and at the Plumbing Showcase, but her volunteer work for hospice has her heart.
“We have a core group of volunteers that we couldn’t be without - ladies that know so much about what will grow, what won’t grow,” Landis said. “I have met the most wonderful people doing this.
“We are here strictly to raise funds for those in hospice care,” Landis said.
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, https://www.newsminer.com
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