Peggy Nagy, a homeowner at The Orchards of Habersham Grove, an Active Adult community in Cumming Georgia developed by The Orchards Group has spent the last 35 years giving her time to worthy organizations, activities and causes. Though she is now a retiree, she hasn’t slowed down at all, working part time and volunteering for several local organizations.
Nagy’s commitment to volunteering began more than 35 years ago when her daughter was in high school and wanted to be a hospital candy striper. As a minor, Peggy had to accompany her daughter on volunteer shifts, but Peggy enjoyed it so much herself that she decided to volunteer on her own.
“Volunteering is easy,” says Peggy, who is particularly passionate about her volunteer work at Northside Hospital-Forsyth in the surgical and women’s services departments, where she has been volunteering for nearly five years. She started volunteering there shortly after moving from Florida to Habersham Grove, an Orchards Group active adult community in Cumming, located just one mile from the hospital.
In the surgical department, Peggy helps the nurses prepare rooms for patients, ensuring the rooms are clean, sterilized and stocked with necessary supplies. She helps keep patients comfortable and she assists them when they leave the hospital.
Before Peggy leaves after one of her shifts in the surgical department, she stops by the women’s services department. There, she picks up yarn and fabric to take home, where she will continue giving of her time, crocheting receiving blankets and caps for the hospital’s newborns during her evenings.
“Honestly, it helps keep me awake while I watch TV at night,” jokes Peggy, who says she makes, on average, ten receiving blanket and cap sets each week.
No newborn leaves the hospital without a handmade blanket and/or cap, and with 250 babies born there each month, that’s a lot of knitting.
“I enjoy knowing that babies leave the hospital warmed with a blanket or cap that I made,” said Peggy.
Recently, Peggy received an award from her part-time employer, wholesale club B.J.’s, honoring her volunteer work. Nominated by a co-worker, Peggy was named the Number One Caregiver out of the chain’s 190 clubs in 15 states across the Eastern United States. Along with that distinction came a $1,000 donation to the charity of her choice. Of course, she chose Northside Hospital-Forsyth.