It was a kind acquaintance who helped Pia Hughes, the clerkship administrator for the Department of Pediatrics, get her first job at Baylor College of Medicine more than 30 years ago.

A single mom returning home to Houston from California, Hughes recognized that serving as the front desk receptionist in Neurology would help her build a lasting career. At the time, she didn’t know it would help fortify a compassionate spirit and fuel service to her community.

“I was afraid that seeing the neurological patients would harden me, but more than anything, it helped build my compassion and empathy,” she said. “Their resilience and hope, returning over and over for treatment, traveling from very far away sometimes – it makes you grateful. It makes you want to be better.”

Hughes’ volunteerism at Baylor has spanned the breadth of her career, from working the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association call center in years past to babysitting at a recent Parents’ Night Out event organized by Baylor’s Developmental Pediatrics team. During Parents’ Night Out, volunteers care for children with severe disabilities so their parents may have an evening of respite.

She has volunteered at the Hermann Park Conservancy, supported the Student National Medical Association with donations and hands-on help during Black History Month celebrations and responded to volunteer calls from the Office of the President for community events.

“Baylor has been my community for 30 years,” Hughes said. “But community doesn’t just mean where I live. It means the people I ‘do’ life with. It means doing things that I would want others to do if the roles were reversed – with humanity, kindness and love.”

She also has championed students in quiet, practical ways. Through her work with medical students during mandatory pediatric clerkship rotations, she has witnessed the impact of food insecurity among the trainees. To help, she makes sure snacks are discreetly available, and she has passionately advocated for the rotating students to be served meals alongside the residents they follow.

It is perhaps no surprise that she is dedicated to volunteering with the Grocery Resource at Baylor (the GRAB), the College’s food pantry for students. Regularly, she helps fill bags on Tuesdays and enjoys staffing the monthly GRAB Market by Second Servings pop-up events. She is heartened to see how much food has been available at recent markets, a partnership with the food rescue nonprofit Second Servings, and she hopes that everybody has been able to get what they need.

Because for Hughes, community is not a place – it is a practice. Even a kind acquaintance taking calls during a telethon, babysitting children, building community for underserved student populations or handing out food can make a world of difference.

“You never know how what you give from your heart can change someone,” she said.

Visit InTouch for volunteer opportunities coordinated by Baylor’s Office of Communications and Community Outreach. Learn more about Volunteer Time Off. Find other community opportunities.

Story by Susannah Russell, assistant director of philanthropic communications in Baylor’s Office of Institutional Advancement and Alumni Affairs