This past year, our program lost one of its most beloved volunteers. One month shy of her 90th birthday, she worked two days a week in our laboratory and at one of the hospital information desks. Though frailer in the past few months, she was still at the hospital working the week before she died. At word of her passing, I called the family, to inquire about funeral arrangements. The daughter-in-law informed me that there would likely be no memorial service, because, in her words, "she (the volunteer)didn't really have any friends here." I assured her that the volunteer circle of friends was sizeable, and included many fellow volunteers and hospital staff. The family eventually decided to have a service. Other than family and a few other attendees, the pews were filled exclusively with volunteers and hospital staff. The family was shocked that so many people knew and loved their quiet little mom, and that they had never known about this support system of friends, despite her seven years of involvement as a volunteer at our hospital! Something about this experience troubled me greatly. I fear that many children and spouses, especially of our older volunteers, see their volunteer activities as just something for them to do to keep busy. They really have no idea that their loved ones are doing important, valuable work with our patients. I wanted to find a way to avoid a scene like this with others in our program, if at all possible. Volunteers were asked for the names and addresses of their immediately family - spouses, children, or close friends. They were not told the exact reason for the information - ironically, many assumed we were gathering next of kin info, in the event of their death on the job! With those names, we created a family database. At Christmas, instead of the usual inspirational letter to volunteers, talking about the meaning of the season and their wonderful deeds throughout the year, I wrote letters to each of these on the mailing list. I told them about what their wife, mother, brother, etc. did at our hospital, and how important they were in the lives of our staff, patients and families. Many of those who received letters have called, and told very touching stories of how they read the tributes to "their" volunteer at a family gathering during the holidays. Several said they had the letter framed, and gave it as a gift to their loved one. The volunteers had no idea this was happening, and were moved beyond words. In over 25 years of managing volunteers, I have never done any recognition activity that has had a more profound impact on the timbre of our program, and on the lives of our volunteers! Obviously, this was quite time-consuming (I wrote about 150+ letters), but extremely high-impact on the recipients and, as a bonus, on the author. It really made my holiday season very meaningful. I will continue to look for opportunities to communicate the countless ways our volunteers make a difference to the other people who care so much about them - their families.