Well, that same spirit of service reaches nonprofits and countless community organizations.

Volunteers give their time, talents, and compassion to help others.

Roughly 43% of all nonprofit organizations rely entirely on volunteers.

Their service helps food banks, disaster relief groups, and other organizations expand programs and reach more people.

"Carolina Impact"'s Jason Terzis introduces us to one local organization rethinking volunteer service.

- Hospital stays can quickly grow boring for patients and visitors.

Doctors and nurses handle the medical care, but long stretches of downtime can leave patients searching for entertainment.

A new Novant Health Volunteer Initiative now tackles that boredom through personal connection.

(mellow jazz music) (knocking at door) - Come in!

- [Jason] He knocks and enters.

- Howdy.

I'm Dan with the Fun Committee.

- [Jason] Dan Wooten visiting patient Maria Navis.

- I've got games, magazines, a deck of cards.

- Dan is not an employee at Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, but he is one of its valued volunteers.

- Oh, no, thank you.

I'm sorry you have to be in the hospital.

- It's an opportunity to bring a lot of joy.

- [Jason] Hospitals can sometimes feel like cold, lonely places, so that's where Dan comes in.

- I always carry a deck of cards.

I'm a mean rummy player.

We'll do seven-card.

- It's like making a friendship and they look forward to that.

- [Jason] It's all part of a larger program Novant is calling Comfort And Cheer.

- Being in the hospital sucks.

As good, as much as we try to make it, you know, no one actually wants to be here.

I mean, maybe if you're having a kid or something, but even then, that's a process.

- [Jason] The idea, help patients, not with traditional medicines and treatments.

They, of course, leave that to the professionals, but with simple human interaction.

- The goal is to get rid of all the cards in your hand first and you get a bonus 50 points.

- Sometimes we notice, let's say a patient doesn't have any family coming and going or someone seems really chatty, but sometimes the nurses can't stay so long or the doctors and all of us, and we're like, "Wow, they really would like more company."

So that might be someone we're like, "You know, I bet they could really do, you know, a visit from Dan would be awesome."

- [Jason] Carrying an activities tote filled with games, puzzles, and cards, Dan makes his way around the hospital, visiting with patients.

Whether they play a game or just sit and talk or a little bit of both is completely up to them.

- Magazines are a big hit with a lot of people.

Like, not everyone wants to chat at the end of the day.

They might be tired or whatever, but, like, a lot of them want a magazine.

So I always make sure I'm stocked on the magazines.

- [Jason] On this visit, Dan and Maria played a game of Rummy.

- So, technically, you draw first and there's always a card down.

- It was amazing.

Probably the best 30 minutes of the day.

So it's a great thing that he's doing.

- [Jason] And in this game of Rummy, Maria pulled out the victory over Dan.

- Did I win?

- Yes, dad-gum it.

Congratulations.

- I think he let me win, but that's up for debate.

(group chuckling) - [Jason] It's just one of the many games Dan will play and interactions he'll have with Novant patients.

- Not long ago, I sat with this one patient who, you know, was just having a bad day and needed someone to complain to, and even that was, you know, interesting and enjoyable for me.

It's just, it's part of, you know, her story.

- It's like a little blessing.

It's an angel that comes and plays with you and allows you to forget that you are not feeling well and that you're not home.

- The patients, I think, really feel very respected.

They feel valued.

They feel seen.

They get excited to know someone's coming.

Like, there was one little boy who he had to be here several days, but he didn't have anyone to play with.

So we sent our volunteer or sent in Dan, let's say, and, you know, they played checkers together and the kid's off the moon.

- [Jason] As for Dan, he has quite the background, and perhaps not quite what you'd expect from a hospital volunteer.

- Well, I went to college.

I went to grad school at UC Berkeley for a while.

I lived in Manhattan.

I lived in Denver.

I mean, I've lived in Seattle and Chattanooga and Knoxville.

I got my PhD in nuclear engineering.

- [Jason] But he ended up coming back home to Charlotte and pivoting to finance.

- For a while, I knew I was gonna end up doing finance because I grew up in Charlotte, and I was like, "No, I'm gonna be a nuclear engineer."

Now I work for a major bank.

I'm a data scientist for Capital One.

I have one younger brother by two and a half years, yeah, and he still lives in Charlotte, so he's a big part of the reason I came back.

- [Jason] Working online from home, Dan's own personal human interactions are somewhat limited.

- I'm at my house all day with my three big dogs, and I love the dogs, but I think that lowers the activation barrier to getting up and leaving the house.

- [Jason] So volunteering and visiting with people at the hospital is not only therapeutic for the patients, but, in a way, for Dan as well.

- Especially being a remote worker, I knew I needed to get out of the house more, just like set plans to see actual humans rather than just on a Zoom call, and it's more on a personal level, a one-to-one where, you know, you can hear a story, hear something about someone's life.

- [Jason] He's learned and shared a lot with strangers from all walks of life who then became instant friends.

- I guess maybe my grandmothers inspired this.

My grandmothers are in their 90s and, you know, they need help and they get bored from watching TV all day.

So just sitting down and doing a puzzle with them makes their day, and I think I just put that two and two together like, oh, I'm sure there are people in the hospital who want to play a game of checkers.

- [Jason] A simple idea that's turned into a success for everyone involved.

- And you know that it's really cool when, afterwards, the patient will ask, "So when will you be back to see me again?

When are you gonna come see me again?"

Or, "Will you be back tomorrow?"

Or, you know, "You can come back again."

- That said, you're in luck.

- [Jason] Showing that even small moments of attention can make a big difference for those who need it most.

- Okay.

What a great combination.

Get someone who works from home out of the house to help some folks who could use a little joy, but as I understand, he's got a game that he hasn't pulled out of the- - Yeah, the little bag yet.

- Out of the bag yet?

- Yeah, there's one game that's just been sitting there the whole time.

Well, patients often choose card games and checkers, but Dan still has not unpacked the backgammon board.

He says even seasoned board game players often don't know the rules, so I did a quick little research.

Backgammon's popularity surged nation-wide during the 1920s and again during the '70s, but since then, interest has steadily declined.

I know you were just saying, like, you used to play.

- In the '70s with my grandfather.

- Yeah, yeah.

- My grandfather taught me how to play backgammon.

It looked like a briefcase.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It was a lovely set that snapped up, and I'd carry my briefcase over to Grandpa, sit in his chair, and we'd play backgammon, but I just bought one for my mom who's in a nursing home.

- Okay, so maybe- - And my brother-in-law, no one knows how to play it and I can't remember.

- But interesting how games, whether it's video games or classic board games, how games have their ebbs and flows of popularity, yeah.