Chapter 1
Lesson 1 of 7 — The Heart of This Work
Lesson One
The Last Gift Initiative — Volunteer Training
The Heart of
This Work
This Work
Before we talk about what you'll do, we want you to understand why this exists — and what it means that you said yes.
Lesson 1 of 7 — The Heart of This Work
Lesson One
The Last Gift Initiative — Volunteer Training
The Heart of
This Work
This Work
Before we talk about what you'll do, we want you to understand why this exists — and what it means that you said yes.
Lesson 1 — Knowledge Check
The Heart of This Work
Answer all five questions, then submit to complete Lesson 1. Your results will be sent to your training coordinator.
Question 1 of 5
The Last Gift Initiative is best described as:
Question 2 of 5
As a Last Gift volunteer, your primary role is to:
Question 3 of 5
A volunteer may offer their personal opinion or advice to a family member if asked directly.
Question 4 of 5
The items in the Last Gift Comfort Kit are:
Question 5 of 5
When no family is present and a person is actively dying, the most important thing a volunteer brings to the room is:
Please answer all questions and enter your name before submitting.
Questions correct
"No one should die alone. That's not a policy. It's a promise."
Where this began
The Last Gift Initiative was born from a simple and devastating truth: in long-term care facilities across this country, people die alone every day. Not because no one cares. But because the systems around them — understaffed, overstretched, doing their best — cannot always ensure that someone is simply present.
This program exists to change that. Not through a policy or a protocol. Through you.
What this model is — and isn't
The Last Gift Initiative is a compassionate presence program. Our volunteers are not medical providers, chaplains, social workers, or grief counselors. You are not there to fix, to advise, to comfort in words, or to manage anything. You are there to bear witness. To make sure that as someone moves through the most profound transition of human life, they are not alone in the room.
You are here to
Be present. Offer calm. Hold space. Sit quietly. Speak gently if moved to. Bear witness to a life.
You are not here to
Provide medical care. Counsel family. Make decisions. Speak on behalf of the facility or the program.
This distinction protects you, it protects the people in your care, and it protects the integrity of everything we are building together.
The comfort kit
You will bring — or find already in the room — a Last Gift Comfort Kit. It isn't a gift basket in the ordinary sense. Every item in it was chosen with intention, and each one carries meaning for the person dying, for their family, and for you as the person who placed it.
The soft light of a votive candle on a windowsill. A throw blanket placed gently over someone who can no longer ask for warmth. A small bear left near someone who has no family coming. A cloth placed over a heart that is still beating.
These are not decorations. They are acts of love made visible in a room where love might otherwise have no face.
"I started this because I know what it looks like when someone doesn't have to die alone — and I know what it looks like when they do. You are here because you were willing to be the difference between those two things. That matters more than I can say."
— Trisha Blizzard, Founder, The Last Gift Initiative
What comes next
In the lessons ahead, you'll learn exactly what to expect — physically, emotionally, and practically. You'll learn what dying looks like and sounds like. You'll learn how to use everything in the Comfort Kit. You'll learn what to do when your shift ends, when no one comes to relieve you, and how to take care of yourself after.
But none of that matters as much as what you already have: the willingness to show up. Everything else is just preparation.