Husband and wife volunteers know the little things make a big difference

When Jane Moreau was treated for melanoma at MD Anderson in 2001, she was so impressed by the care she received from doctors and staff that she wanted to do something to give back to the hospital. 

So 10 years later, following her retirement from ExxonMobil, Jane began volunteering in the gift shop at the Albert B. and Margaret M. Alkek Hospital. 

“I’m always inspired by patients’ positive attitudes and courage in accepting their illness,” she says. “It helps me to be a better person.” 

Impressed by the work his wife was doing, Roland Moreau was inspired to join Jane as a volunteer a few years later after his retirement, also from ExxonMobil. Since then, the couple has spent most of their time working as inpatient volunteers, doing what they can to make patients and caregivers more comfortable. Both also help each year with Children’s Art Project Pop-Up Shops and the Christmas Day luncheon in Pediatrics. 

Faith is a very important part of life for the Moreaus. Each week, Roland, who is a member of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston’s Catholic Chaplain Corps, visits with Catholic patients. Both say they’ve always admired the level of faith and spiritual grounding exhibited by many of the patients, families, doctors and nurses at MD Anderson. This admiration led to their donation of a new tabernacle for the Freeman-Dunn Chapel in the Main Building. 

Roland says the most enjoyable aspect of volunteering is knowing you can make a small, but important, difference in someone’s life each day. 

“Our visits with patients and families are always a wonderful learning opportunity and very humbling,” Roland says. “If you can bring a smile to someone’s face during a visit, that is its own reward.”