Billie Utley celebrates 5,000 hours of service

Billie Utley has been a volunteer at Children's since 1989 and will be commemorated for reaching the 5,000-hour milestone of service this May. She said she started volunteering at Children's after she lost her husband Paul and her grandchildren got older.

"I thought it was high time I did something for somebody else," she said.

Some 19 years later, she's still doing a lot of things for somebody else.

Like clockwork, Utley, a sprightly 85, comes to Children's three Mondays a month and the fifth Thursday to work for the Assistance League of Dallas, delivering toys, games and other gifts to children on almost every floor of the hospital. ALD members have been volunteering at Children's for a number of years with the Cheers for Children project, and Utley was hooked after her first day on the job.

"I thought, ‘This is my niche in life,'" she said.

There are 23 other ALD members volunteering at Children's in addition to Utley

On her volunteer rounds, Utley pushes a large wooden cart filled with more than 50 pounds of gifts for children of all ages, and children get to choose what they want. After her rounds at Children's, she then pushes her wooden cart to Parkland, where she makes rounds on the first floor. Everybody knows her.

"It's nice to be known by everybody, but I don't do it for that," Utley said. "I do it for my love of children."

The ALD recently honored Utley's behind-the-scenes service to Children's with the Ada Edwards Laughlin Award. She has accrued the most hours at Children's of any ALD volunteer.

Nowadays, Utley gets driven to the hospital by an ALD colleague. "I used to drive, but when I stopped, I think they were afraid I'd quit," she laughs. She'll turn 86 in August, but has no plans to stop volunteering anytime soon. "It's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life."

"Billie is a lady full of spirit, enthusiasm and energy," said Cassie Collins, director of Volunteer Services. "She definitely has the gift of hospitality, and that gift spills over into her volunteer work. It's rare in life that you meet someone who is as dedicated to helping others as she is."

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