The stories he hears

COEUR d'ALENE - Butch Stoddard collects donations for Hospice of North Idaho.

The gifts are great, but it's the stories behind the donations he remembers.

Stoddard recalls picking up donations from a man whose wife had died a few months prior.

When Stoddard stopped in, the man seemed fine.

"You're sure handling this good," Stoddard said.

The man hesitated and answered.

"No, I'm not," he said. "My wife suffered the last two years so bad."

Doctors told him they didn't know what was keeping her going.

"I finally realized, she was hanging on for me," the man told Stoddard. "So I cradled her in my arms and said, 'Honey, it's all right to go. I'll come later.'"

"She took a deep breath and went right there in his arms," Stoddard said.

It's those kind of stories, those kind of people, those kind of moments, that have led Stoddard to volunteer 26 years with Hospice of North Idaho, a nonprofit that helps people facing serious illness or experiencing the loss of a loved one.

"When you see that kind of stuff, I see it all the time, that's why I keep working," he said.

The Dalton Gardens man was back at it Tuesday morning. He picked up a wrought iron patio set and delivered it to the hospice thrift store on Fourth Street in Coeur d'Alene.

It's something he does seven days a week, if necessary. He collects and delivers donations with one of his many trucks, and even delivers items purchased at the thrift store, too.

All for nothing, maybe just a thanks and a wave.

"It's for Hospice. That's the main thing," he said. "People know that Hospice took care of their dad and grandpa, so they donate some really nice stuff."

Tara Caldwell, thrift store manager, said Stoddard's generosity is unparalleled.

"I can't say enough good about him," she said.

Stoddard is available any time, day or night, for the benefit of Hospice. At the same time, he declines offers of help directed at him.

"He just wants to give back," Caldwell said.

Stoddard, retired after 26 years in bomb disposal with the Air Force, recalled helping his step-father and grandmother, and being called on to assist a few residents in their later years in life.

"I saw there was kind of a need," he said.

Later came a call from Hospice. People had offered donations, but Hospice had no way to pick them up. Could Stoddard do it?

He has been at it ever since.

He recounts the story of going out on his first run to collect donations with another driver.

When they arrived, the man said they could pick out what they wanted, then deliver the rest to Hospice. Stoddard declined. Everything, he said, would go to Hospice.

"So that's why I work alone," he said. "Whatever I get, I bring it in here."

That includes beds, dressers, hutches, coffee tables, and cabinets. No matter how much, how big, Stoddard retrieves it by himself. Just him.

When he arrives, alone, folks often say, "You can't get it by yourself."

He proves them wrong.

"I've never yet had something I couldn't get," he said.

He uses leverage well, and his experience works for him, too.

"I'm pretty strong," he said, smiling.

Stoddard, a friendly, talkative man, offers a big grin as he tells a story of picking up a king-sized bed from Ace Walden, Coeur d'Alene patriarch, before he passed away Oct. 23, 2010.

"What cha doing here, sonny?" Walden asked.

Told he came for the bed, Walden said, "You can't get it by yourself, sonny."

But Stoddard carried out the headboard, footboard, siderails, mattress and box spring - by himself.

"You proved me wrong, sonny," a chuckling Walden said.

Stoddard stays busy, too collecting donations leftover from yard sales.

"People call me on Sunday, and I go pick the stuff up and bring it in here," he said.

And he's quick. No dallying.

"If the neighbors start picking through the stuff, they pick all the good stuff," he said.

He checks the Hospice thrift store for donations left out back each night, too, and moves them safely inside.

The gifts to Hospice, he said, are wonderful. A Rathdrum man donated a home entertainment section he said he purchased for $3,500.

"We sold it in here for $900, so people get some really good buys," Stoddard said.

No surprise, though, that folks are generous toward Hospice.

"Most people realize what a good thing Hospice is," he said. "Hospice steps in and alleviates their pain."

He has the stories to prove it.

Like the one from Monday night.

Stoddard received call from a man who said his son and his wife had died, years earlier, and he was finally ready to part with some of their things. He wanted Hospice to have them.

"Can you imagine how hard that was for him?" Stoddard said.

The man was crying when Stoddard arrived, so he asked if perhaps there might be a better time.

"No, I've got to do this," the man said. "This means she's really never coming back."

Stoddard nodded.

He understood.