Thorne Hawley is a regular in Purple One. She comes in wearing blue jeans and sandals, plops down on the floor amid the babies and starts settling disputes.

“Oh, no, that’s not your bottle,” she says tells a little girl who is about to take a swig from the wrong nipple. She deftly grabs the bottle, returns it to its rightful owner, who is registering alarm, and replaces it with the right bottle before the little girl can make a peep. All the while a third baby is crawling up Thorne’s outstretched legs, aiming for her lap.

“I have a good time here,” says Thorne.
So good a time, in fact, that Thorne volunteers in Purple One three afternoons a week.

“I don’t have anything else to do,” she says. “Why not?”

At 87, Thorne is, without much doubt, Operation Breakthrough’s most senior volunteer.

“She’s always down on the floor with the babies,” says teacher Mary Henderson. “Last week, she was dancing with them.”

Thorne lives at Bishop Spencer Place, a retirement home not far from the Center. Her grandson suggested she spend some time at Operation Breakthrough. Since April 2006, she has come every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A driver from Bishop Spencer Place drops her off and comes back for her two hours later.

“When we give her a baby,” says teacher Vernetta Durant, “that’s one baby we don’t have to worry about for a whole hour.”

A boy in a T-shirt and diapers waddles up to Thorne, steadying himself on her knee.

“He’s such a helpful person,” Thorne says of this tot. “He’s a really nice guy.”

The baby grins. Thorne smiles back.

“I’m not able to do much except hold them and talk to them,” Thorne says.

For the babies of Purple One, that’s more than enough.
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For information about volunteer opportunities at Operation Breakthrough, please contact Jenny Horsley at 816-329-5233 or at jenny@operationbreakthrough.org.