Editor's note: In the spirit of the holidays, we will offer occasional stories between now and Christmas Day on the power of people helping people.

LEWISTON - For some, it might take a manicure. Others might like the Bible read to them - or a Danielle Steele novel. Some might need a light touch on the shoulder, the arm or the hand.

Jeanne Beliveau has done all that. And more.

At 68, the retired biology teacher and grandmother of seven is perfecting the art of support. A five-year volunteer with Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, Beliveau visits hospice patients and spends time with people who've lost loved ones. She does it because she has the time and a ready shoulder, ear and heart to lend.

Beliveau said she doesn't perform grand gestures and doesn't promise overnight results. She simply offers to do things for people that they sometimes have trouble doing for themselves.

"I guess that's what I do," she said. "I do the small things."

They add up.

Beliveau received the 2008 Hospice Volunteer award from the Maine Home Care Alliance and Maine Hospice Council.

Volunteers aren't paid. That doesn't mean it's easy.

After a training session with the local agency, Beliveau walked into the room of her first patient at the St. Marguerite d'Youville Pavilion in Lewiston in 2003. The 87-year-old woman was given five months to live.

To Beliveau's relief, the woman was asleep. It gave Beliveau time to collect her thoughts. She was alone with a total stranger tasked with giving the woman comfort. She remembered her training and used her instincts.

It doesn't always click right away, she said. Sometimes it takes a while to get to know someone you've never met before.

Other times, things fall quickly into place. With her first patient, they discovered they had many things in common. They were both mothers and had similar religious practices.

"We had a lot to talk about," she said.

She clipped, filed and painted the woman's nails, something she used to do for her mother when Beliveau started caring for her in her home. Beliveau also read scripture to the patient and they chatted.

After spending time with hospice patients, Beliveau started to take an interest in helping people get through the grieving process and dealing with the loss of someone significant.

She got additional training and eventually helped lead group sessions.

Through her volunteering, she has learned a lot, she said. She has found she has more in common with the people she's helping than she first thought. Some friendships have outlasted her time as a volunteer and continued after her role with the agency came to an end.

She still visits two elderly woman at the Pavilion - even though she's not sent by the agency - and gives them manicures. "It's such a small thing," she said.

Do you know someone who deserves to be recognized for the many good things they do for others in our communities? Contact Mark Mogensen at 689-2805 or at mmogensen@sunjournal.com