Chapter 08: Recalling Volunteer Events and Volunteers
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Description
Mrs. Harrison first recalls the Children’s Christmas Card Project kick off parade, which took place in early fall. She describes the parade, recalling the young men pushing their IV poles, the St. Thomas bagpipers, and the fire truck that drove patients along the route. She describes the route and notes that the barbecue restaurant, Goode Company, served sandwiches for lunch. Next Mrs. Harrison recalls valued volunteers. She notes that when she was promoted from Manager of the Children’s to Assistant Director of Volunteer Services, her role did not change, though her income increased. Next Mrs. Harrison talks about Page Lawson, “volunteer extraordinaire,” who had good business sense, enthusiasm, and a gift for matching people to the right job. She recalls that Ms. Lawson told her she’d been watching her in the cafeteria and decided that she “had what we needed.”
Identifier
HarrisonK_02_20130607_C08
Publication Date
6-7-2013
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - The Administrator; The Philanthropist/Volunteer; Professional Practice; The Professional at Work; Offering Care, Compassion, Help; MD Anderson History; Portraits; This is MD Anderson; Personal Reflections, Memories of MD Anderson; MD Anderson Past
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So tell me some more stories from your time volunteering. What are some of the kind of important—really important—moments for you, besides the ones you’ve already shared with me?
Karen Harrison:
Again, at this point I was not a volunteer, so I don’t know. We had a parade to kick off the season of the card project. The young men did push their IV poles and march in the parade. I invited, at that time, Representative George Bush, and it turned out he was unable to come, but Barbara came. We had a party following it, and I got the cutest picture in the world of her sitting on the step, talking to about a three-year-old, bald as he could be. And that meant a whole lot to me.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, tell me more about the parade. About how big was it? And who was in it?
Karen Harrison:
Patients that were able. I think it was St. Thomas that had the bagpipers. The Episcopal Church, I think they were in it. My husband had a cousin who was a fireman, and he brought the fire truck and drove the fire truck. The patients that were well enough to be out but not to march got to ride on the fire truck. We just went down Bertner to along about Methodist and then over and back up, that sort of thing. It was nothing real elaborate.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So did people put on holiday colors? Did they dress up? What was—?
Karen Harrison:
I think more of just what they—
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Just ordinary.
Karen Harrison:
Goode Company came and had sandwiches for everybody that attended. They were outside on the grill.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
People who listen to this may not even know what that is. So say for the record, what is Goode Company?
Karen Harrison:
It’s the best barbecue in town.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
And still exists, too.
Karen Harrison:
Yes, still exists. I still go as often as possible.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, do you? You’re a devotee. That’s great. Well, that must have been a real treat to have barbecue. So that was around the holidays, like in early December or something?
Karen Harrison:
No, it was earlier than that. To begin the sale, to be able to get the cards there for Christmas, you tried to sell them in, oh, I guess, the beginning of September.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, okay. Wow. So that’s really early in the season. It was still really hot then.
Karen Harrison:
And one of the volunteers that I had and still value as a precious friend was Pat Wazelle, and she would do the mail orders at her house and just come in—had her across-the-street neighbor volunteering to drive in and get the orders for us, and he brought them out to her in the neighborhood of West U. She did all the bookwork and stuff that was required at that time, before we got it into a huge business. She’s my friend still today, and it’s been too long since I’ve seen her. We talked, I guess, in January.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Tell me some other stories from the Children’s Art Project. What are some of the high points you remember from that, or the difficult—? What are some of the difficult things, real struggles you’ve had putting that project—getting it moving and growing?
Karen Harrison:
Oh, I can’t even think of calling it difficult. Angela Cheves, who is a production manager now, I had known her parents before she was born. She had a degree in art from the University of Texas and came, and I introduced her to Page. I said, “She’s a personal friend, and she’s a good artist, but I’m stopping at that. It’s your judgment.” And I said, “I don’t want you to think that I have to push a friend in, because she’s worthy of getting the job on her own.” And Page said, “Oh, no, she’s what we want.” So she has worked there.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I’ve emailed with her about various things. Yeah, she’s really neat.
Karen Harrison:
She’s a very capable young woman.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
When you became assistant director of volunteer services, what did that change in title mean?
Karen Harrison:
It made it—made a little bit of difference in my income, I guess. It was just—and I’m drawing a complete blank on it. It was a new assistant director, and she went to Page and said I should be called assistant director as well.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
And was that because of the amount of work you were doing for the Children’s Art Project?
Karen Harrison:
Or had done in the past—had volunteered. I don’t know what it was, but she was generous is all I can tell you.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, and that is very generous.
Karen Harrison:
It was very generous. I’m sure that I can get her name from Angela if I can’t conjure it up. Usually I can conjure things up in a while, but I have not gotten her name yet. She went on to transfer to Dallas later and was with volunteerism there and working with them.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So you were—? So basically it was a title that was in recognition of past work and current work that you were doing—your workload, basically.
Karen Harrison:
It was.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So once you did that, you pretty much kept on the same track doing just what you were doing?
Karen Harrison:
Yes.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Tell me more about Page Lawson. We were talking about her a little bit before we turned on the recorder, and you said she was just the most amazing— I can’t remember the phrase you used—the volunteer deluxe. Or you said something like that to really—
Karen Harrison:
Extraordinaire.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Extraordinaire—volunteer extraordinaire. That was it. I love that phrase. Why? Why was she volunteer extraordinaire?
Karen Harrison:
Well, she was very much a can-do person. At first we gave prizes at the end of the year to the children who designed—or to everyone who made a design, something like that. But she said, “Oh, children are into the now. Let’s give it to them earlier in the scene.” She just—she had really good business sense and really a lot of enthusiasm and knew where to put slots to put people in and their talents. As a volunteer or floor hostess, I’d come down every day I worked, and we—Page and all the volunteers that were down about that time—would go up to lunch in the cafeteria. So it was—you know—you have no idea that you’re being studied. And she would later say to me, “Well, I watched you, and I knew you had the things we needed—talents we needed.”
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What did she see?
Karen Harrison:
Well, I guess just that I’m outgoing. I don’t know.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Interesting.
Karen Harrison:
She said I was outgoing.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So she really had a sense about people.
Karen Harrison:
Yes.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
She could really pick up on things. I’d be interested if you could tell me about maybe you saw her working with one of the other volunteers—you know—how did she cultivate people? [redacted]
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Absolutely. Let me, Mrs. Harrison, just pause the recorder for a second. (End of Audio 1 Session 2)
Recommended Citation
Harrison, Karen K. and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 08: Recalling Volunteer Events and Volunteers" (2013). Interview Chapters. 879.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/879
Conditions Governing Access
Redacted
