Congratulations to Juan Ramos for being recognized as Heart2Heart’s Volunteer of the Month for May 2022!
Juan gives his time in two crucial Heart2Heart outreaches every week. To start, he leads a Sunday morning worship service at a care center. He also began delivering meals to two seniors living in their homes as Heart2Heart launched its Food for Hope program last week.
Juan’s recent retirement has allowed him to volunteer more. However, his ministry at the Meridian at Lantana has been ongoing and vital.
“The residents still need to be encouraged. They get a lot of encouragement from the reading of the Word,” he said.
Every Sunday at 9:30 a.m., Juan leads a gathering of about 10 people at the care center. He selects one chapter from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament to read. Periodically, they share in communion as well.
At their request, Juan sets up a little boom box, passes out song sheets, and they sing together.
“I’m not a singer, so I need a little music to help out,” he explained.
They close the meeting in prayer. The service is open to anyone in the care center, and they often have a visitor or two, outside of the regular attendees.
“They can’t drive to church; someone would have to take them,” Juan explained. “So they have the service there.”
Juan drives about 55 minutes to the care center in Lantana every Sunday. The meeting concludes with enough time for him to drive back into Broward County for the service at his own church.
The Sunday morning ministry to care center residents is worth the drive, Juan explained.
“To be honest, they are the forgotten people of the church,” he said. “They don’t have someone to talk to them or read Scriptures.”
A few weeks ago, Juan began leading a Bible study at a different care center, at Pacifica Senior Living Forest Trace in Lauderhill.
Juan discovered Heart2Heart through his church, Christ The Rock Community Church in Cooper City. His first involvement was volunteering at the Alexander ‘Sandy’ Nininger State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Pembroke Pines. Once every other week, he would visit to play bingo and volleyball and talk to the veterans individually.
“That was good; I enjoyed it very much,” Juan said. “They have a lot of history, even all the way back to World War 2.”
Unfortunately, the pandemic put an abrupt stop to those visits, and they haven’t resumed. Juan finds time for his new volunteering ventures in between side jobs he still does for friends and acquaintances and caring for his wife, who is disabled.
He enjoys giving back to the community.
“It’s fulfilling,” Juan said, adding with a laugh: “Watching TV is not that fun anymore.”
We thank Juan for faithfully delivering food and providing spiritual nourishment to the aging community!
