Published: Dec. 13, 2016
The Sparrow Women’s Board of Managers and the Sparrow Volunteer Services Department have named Catherine Rynbrandt of Okemos the December Volunteer of the Month. She has been a Eucharistic Minister bringing Holy Communion to the Catholic patients since 2003. Recently when checking in, she found the list of possible recipients to be 80 patients. She split up the list and did half, stopped for lunch, and continued to visit the rest of the patients. Her care, compassion, and sense of duty for Sparrow’s patients has been noted as well as her sense of humor. She was a patient in the hospital herself once and someone brought communion to her and she thought, ”I can do that”!
Rynbrandt is also a volunteer with the Helping Hands group which assists and supports nursing staff in the Mother-Baby Center by stocking supplies. And, she is a Eucharistic Minister at St. Martha’s Church in Okemos and helps clean the church on Fridays, as well as volunteering at The Salvation Army.
Rynbrant grew up in Muskegon and moved here for a job after attending Muskegon and Lansing Community Colleges and MSU in Business Administration. She worked at Michigan Catholic Conference in Lansing.
Rynbrandt is married to Alyn who also is a Sparrow volunteer as an escort in the Surgical Lounge. The have three sons and seven grandchildren. They enjoy their condo in Sarasota, Florida where, of course, she volunteers helping young mothers in need.
The Sparrow Women’s Board of Managers takes great pride in honoring volunteers like Catherine Rynbrandt who share their time and talent for the benefit of Sparrow’s patients and families. To learn more about volunteering at Sparrow, please visit Sparrow.org or call our office at 517.364.3606, option 1.