MILWAUKEE - It helps families cope with serious illness, and also gives hope, but Kathy’s House in Milwaukee is also getting help from volunteers who are positively Milwaukee.

It’s cleanup time in the toy room of Kathy’s House, and volunteers are hard at work, wiping, dusting and even laughing.

For these Good Samaritans, helping others is a way of life.

“It’s mostly from my parents. They’ve been having me do volunteer work since I was little,” one volunteer said.

Dick Vogel founded Kathy’s House seven years ago. It gives patients and their families a place to stay during tough medical times. Kathy’s House has served 2,400 people over the past five years and all of the furnishings in the rooms were provided by volunteers.

“Spending time in the hospital away from family is very difficult and we try to become a home away from home,” Vogel said.

Kathy’s House is named after Vogel’s daughter, Kathy.

“It was eight years ago that my daughter died of cancer. It was a very difficult journey and we noticed so many people were sitting in the hospital day in and day out because they lived a long way away, and we thought it would be very good if we could start a hospitality house,” Vogel said.

Vogel praises the volunteers, like a group from the Quad Parish Outreach Offerings Summer Service Series.

“This is a great opportunity because people can get involved for simply a day and in as many events as they want to and it gives them exposure to many great organizations in the community, such as Kathy’s House,” Vogel said.

Kathy’s House is one of dozens of volunteer opportunities four local parishes support.

Volunteers come in all ages, including people like 16-year-old Sam Moyer who cares enough to share.

“I’ve been so lucky. I live in a nice house, I go to a nice school, other people may not have been so lucky. They need help, so it’s nice to do that,” Moyer said.

And it’s nice that Kathy’s Place is here in Milwaukee, to ease despair, give comfort, and keep alive the memory of a beautiful woman, who left this earth far too soon.

“Many of our guests who are having a bad evening roam around the house and say they feel her with them,” Vogel said.

Many of the volunteers are from one of four parishes: St. John Vianney and St. Dominic’s in Brookfield, St. Mary’s in Elm Grove, and St. Joseph’s in Wauwatosa.