It takes Ivy Corfis just a few minutes to walk from her downtown condo to the Capitol Lakes health center on West Main Street, where she volunteers every Monday morning. There she helps the volunteer coordinator and residents unpack fresh flowers to lay on the tables in the dining hall.
“It’s bright, it’s pretty,” says Corfis, who talks with the residents of the skilled nursing facility and sometimes reads to them. Sports is a mutual favorite for conversation.
Capitol Lakes is one of four volunteer gigs that Corfis has picked up since retiring in 2021 from UW-Madison, where she was a professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. She had looked forward to retiring, with plans to do some writing in her speciality area, medieval literature. But she also wanted to branch out and get more involved in the community. She didn’t need a large house and yard anymore once her beloved dogs and cat passed away, so she moved downtown and looked around for places to volunteer within walking distance.
Her other volunteer work includes helping welcome visitors to the James Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center, ushering performances at Overture, and tending to two public downtown gardens with the Blair Street Gardens group.
She appreciates these opportunities to improve someone’s day — whether it is to make a theater-goer feel welcomed at a performance or to beautify the city landscape for residents and visitors. It pays personal dividends as well.
“The days when I volunteer — even if it’s two hours standing on my feet — you feel better because somehow now I’ve helped someone. You feel like you have made a difference.”