The Volunteer Endowment for Patient Support provides wigs and turbans through the Beauty/Barber Shop, a program of Volunteer Services at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Volunteer Endowment for Patient Support

In 1991, a handful of volunteers pooled their resources – and their friends – to establish the Volunteer Endowment for Patient Support (VEPS) at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Their vision was to create a perpetual source of funding for meaningful patient-oriented programs not ordinarily covered through traditional sources. They set an ambitious fund-raising goal of $1 million in 10 years, only to reach it a year ahead of schedule. In 2000, encouraged by the success of the endowment and by its impact on patients and their families, the group set sights on the next $1 million. The endowment passed the $2 million mark in August 2006 and continues to grow through individual contributions.

In 2006, the VEPS Disbursement Committee passed the $1 million mark in allocations of income, bringing the number of programs funded to approximately 250. Educational DVDs and materials, wigs and turbans, protective helmets for brain surgery patients, aquariums and TVs in clinic waiting areas, emergency room toiletry packets, restaurant-style electronic pagers for patients awaiting appointments, artwork for inpatient rooms, blanket warmers, the Anderson Network Patient Conference, even peppermints and newspapers – these and many more services and amenities are available because of VEPS.

“It was very comforting, like being wrapped in a warm hug,” says one patient of the warmed blanket she recently received while waiting for a procedure. “It’s true what they say – M. D. Anderson is a special place.”

VEPS funds support many projects that provide educational materials for patients at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, such as this CD-ROM on breast reconstruction. Pictured are volunteer Carrie Wood and Michael Miller, M.D., Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery.

The endowment was the brainchild of the late George Vietor, a patient-turned-volunteer who “saw a lot of needs not being met,” says Susan French, Executive Director of Volunteer Services at M. D. Anderson. Vietor organized the Friends of VEPS, which generated community support for several years. Since 1997, the main fund-raiser for VEPS has been an annual spring luncheon with notable speakers and guests.

The endowment’s steady monetary growth year by year is dramatic. Financials aside, the countless benefits VEPS offers patients – social, emotional, informational and recreational – are measured by less tangible means. Indeed, a child’s laughter, a warm handshake, a grateful smile and a heartfelt hug in response to basic human comforts – these perhaps best reflect the true value of VEPS and the reason it was established.

“The little things do make a difference,” says French. “The patients and their families often feel their lives have been profoundly touched by a volunteer who made the effort to reach out to them. Many feel compelled to give back by becoming volunteers themselves or by making their own contributions to the endowment.”