With so much ahead of them, most college students prefer not to think about the end of life.

Ed Podgorski ’09 is a little different. While preparing for medical school, he grants wishes — last wishes — to the best of his ability as a volunteer at Sacred Heart Home’s hospice center.

“Our culture puts so much emphasis on life, that we forget about the people that have come before us and the lessons they have to offer,” says Podgorski.  “Hospice patients are constantly surrounded by death, so any little bit of life we can give them goes a long way.”

Podgorski has found that the most common wish is to simply have someone to spend time with, or do simple, everyday things like playing video games and bingo, having Bible study, and even going to the Philadelphia Zoo.

His involvement with Sacred Heart began with an assignment in a Christian medical ethics class at Saint Joseph's in the spring of 2009. Even after completing his biology degree through the College of Professional and Liberal Studies, Podgorski kept volunteering at the hospice.

“After taking one patient in particular on several trips outside the home, I started to wonder what I could do for other patients with more help,” says Podgorski.

Within weeks, Podgorski was assembling a new student organization called “Shooting Stars.” The group pledges to realize as many patient wishes as possible, just like the common superstition associated with its namesake.

The fledgling organization is collecting patient wishes via a “Wish Box” at the hospice.  In the coming weeks, groups of three to four members will then fulfill these requests, which currently include a day of fishing, a trip to the aquarium, and trips to various restaurants for a favorite meal.

In the meantime, students continue to organize a variety of social events at the home to bond with the patients and each other.

“These hospice patients are perhaps the people in the most need of our time and I am enthusiastic about helping out in whatever way I can,” says Andy Iriza, president of Shooting Stars. “If we have the power to make their day better just by showing up to talk to them, I can’t wait to see them after we start granting some wishes as a group.”

Though Shooting Stars is a student organization, all on campus are welcome to volunteer to help grant wishes.  For more information about participation, contact Ed Podgorski at ep411481@sju.edu or 215-779-9999.

--Brooke Neifert