Eighty-eight-year-old Ray Shaw remembers that day in 2004 when Jane Hart visited Neptune Baptist Church, where he was a deacon.

She was there to introduce Hart Felt Ministries just weeks after his wife of 62 years, Edith, had died.

"I had been my beloved wife's caregiver and I sure would have welcomed a group like Hart Felt Ministries," said Shaw. "When Jane asked for volunteers, I said I was probably too old, but she disagreed. So here I am."

Now he's scheduled to receive Volunteer Jacksonville's 2008 Heart of Gold Award next month. Shaw will be the third Hart Felt Ministry volunteer to receive the award.

"Rather than drowning in grief over the loss of his wife, Ray chose to help other caregivers and to donate his gifts, talents and expertise to a brand-new faith-based organization and its founder," said Hart, who nominated Shaw for the award.

"His compassion has touched caregivers of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients, along with individuals suffering from heart failure and frailty," Hart said. "Ray is a man of deep integrity who epitomizes faith in action."

'AMAZING TESTAMENT'

Hart, a former hospice volunteer, founded Hart Felt Ministries in July 2004. The volunteer organization primarily helps elderly people. It began with a Faith in Action Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and serves about 250 people, with a waiting list of 140. Shaw is one of about 150 ministry volunteers.

"It's an amazing testament to Hart Felt Ministries that it's not quite 4 years old and has had three award recipients," said Lynn Weise Mora, community relations director for Volunteer Jacksonville. Mora attended the annual Hart Felt Ministries Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast Feb. 9 at Beach United Methodist Church, congratulating Shaw and reuniting with previous award winners Joy Martin and Dean DeWall.

"Each of these volunteers has gone above and beyond to help the elderly of this community," Mora said.

University of North Florida student Lideh Yousefzadeh was also at the Hart Felt breakfast. Her class assignment to write a facility review paper on services provided elderly people at a local agency led her to Hart Felt Ministries.

"I was thrilled when Jane Hart actually answered the phone and even invited me to this breakfast," Yousefzadeh said. "Working with elderly people has been on my heart for a long, long time, and I know the Lord led me to Hart Felt Ministries. I'm inspired and I plan to become a volunteer."

Once she has taken the required training, Yousefzadeh will be one of the youngest Hart Felt volunteers ministering to the elderly.

Shaw is the oldest volunteer.

Despite his age and an ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease, Shaw serves several Hart Felt clients, providing weekly phone support, companionship and transportation to church, doctor or a fishing hole. He's also a liaison to other Hart Felt volunteers who shop for groceries, build wheelchair ramps and do light housekeeping.

Serving three couples and one single person, Shaw is particularly close to his clients Daryl and Jane Glass of Jacksonville Beach.

"Jane is my daughter," said Shaw, noting that she has had polio since she was a toddler in 1950 and that her husband also has polio.

PUSH TOWARD MARRIAGE

A former long-distance truck driver, Daryl Glass can walk short distances unassisted and drive their hand-controlled van. His wife, who uses a wheelchair, is a former high school English teacher who worked as an FBI investigations assistant for 25 years and retired in 2007. She is also an organist and pianist and has played for services at Neptune Baptist Church.

Celebrating their sixth anniversary this month, Jane and Daryl Glass met on an Internet polio chat room and later on a Disney World vacation taken by several of the chat room members. At first, Jane recalled, she was hesitant to accept Daryl's proposal of marriage.

"I never planned to get married," she said, "but my family, especially my mother, loved Daryl and wanted me to marry him. Mother said, 'Jane, you're 55 years old; what are you waiting for?' "

Laughing, Daryl Glass said his late mother-in-law, Edith May Shaw, was his champion and that she knew true love when she saw it because she'd lived it for 62 years with Jane's dad. In addition to being welcomed by his wife's large family, Daryl Glass said he has discovered a new sense of humor and tolerance as his polio causes less mobility.

For instance, he said, grinning, "I never thought I'd enjoy being called 'adorable,' but when people see Jane and me at the mall side by side in our wheelchairs, that's what they call us, and I kind of like it."

On Ray Shaw's help, Daryl Glass said, "Ray brought us a whole group of volunteers to paint this house. Another volunteer, Alan Foster, mows our lawn. I don't know what we'd do without Hart Felt. They are an answer to prayer."

For more information on Hart Felt Ministries, people can call Hart at 538-0306 or visit www.hartfelt.org .