A few years ago, a brilliant idea struck longtime Family House volunteer Carmen Woodruff. A regular laundry folder at our hospitality house, Carmen observed that many of the stained towels were being tossed. The thought occurred to her: why not recycle them by distributing them to her second love—local organizations that serve animals in need?

Every week, after Carmen folds mounds of linen and towels and stacks them high in the linen closet, she gathers bags of discolored and frayed towels and drops them off to three facilities: Falconbridge Animal Hospital in Durham, Orange County Animal Shelter in Chapel Hill, and Saving Grace, an animal rescue in the nearby Meadowmont community. The towels are then used for the animals’ baths, bedding, and surgery. Our discarded towels are going to a great cause, thanks to Carmen!

In addition to volunteering at Family House each week, Carmen also prepares lunch at the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service once a month.  She tells us, “I feel like I’m worth something when I do this volunteer work.” To Family House, she exudes the truest spirit of volunteerism, providing tremendous TLC and hope for so many individuals and animals in need.