Millie Chin’s first-hand experience of Hospice care was all the motivation she needed to volunteer at her local (Devonport) Hospice shop.
“Despite never having smoked or drank alcohol, Mum was diagnosed with lung cancer,” she explains. Fourteen years on the memory is clearly still a painful one for her. Millie’s Mum died a very short time after her diagnosis. During that very difficult time, Millie says, she and the family were cared for by Hospice. She remembers clearly the “care and respect” with which she and her wider family were treated. “Hospice is close to my heart,” she says.
As a regular visitor to Hospice shops since her teens, Millie jumped at the chance to put her name down to help at the new Devonport shop when she saw an advertisement in the local Flagstaff newsletter. She loves the sense of giving back that it gives her and can’t speak highly enough of shop managers Tess McGregor and Janet Chase.
Millie finds the hours fit ideally with her role as Mother of school-age children. Her 9:30 am-1:30 pm shift allows her to get them off to school before beginning her morning at the shop.
Before joining the Hospice team, Millie put a lot of energy into supporting the fundraising efforts of her children’s primary school. It was time to move on when her youngest moved to intermediate school.
Millie, her partner Graeme and their two daughters have been part of the Devonport community for 11 years. “You can’t live in a community like Devonport and not feel connected to the people in it.”
Millie has a background in science, sales and marketing. Having first qualified and worked as a pharmacist she went on to hold marketing and sales roles in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact she worked right up to the day her eldest daughter was born. “Well she did come a few weeks early!” she laughs.
June 2016
For more information, please contact Volunteer Services by e-mail or on 09 485 3536.
