Peter and Dorene Morin Have Made Gifts in Their Wills to Support NCH Healthcare

Dorene and Peter Morin

Longtime volunteers Peter and Dorene Morin say that their affiliation with NCH gives them a sense of purpose. After moving to Estero from Rhode Island in 2005, the couple was looking for volunteering opportunities and a friend recommended NCH.

Peter loves helping patients. “When they come in for surgery, they are often nervous and like to have someone to talk to,” he says. “If you make someone’s day, you feel gratified.” Dorene, who has been knitting since she was 7, knits hat and bootie sets for the maternity unit. “As I’m knitting, I imagine the babies in them,” she says. She has knit 250 sets in her 2,500 volunteer hours to date.

The Morins have also made bequests in their wills to support NCH into the future. They left their gifts unrestricted because “NCH will know best where the money is needed.”

They recently learned of a need for the NCH Community Blood Center and purchased a piece of equipment for them. “NCH saved Peter’s life,” says Dorene, “and we are so grateful. He went to the North Naples Emergency Department, and they took him right to the downtown campus to the operating room.”

Peter says he gets more out of volunteering than he puts into it and this year was honored as the NCH Volunteer of the Year, North Naples. “It’s a great organization and extremely well run,” they agree. “It really is our hospital.”