NOTE: This story appeared in a fall 2022 issue of Winston-Salem Monthly magazine.
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| STAN SHUMAN, WITH REBECCA SINK OF TRELLIS SUPPORTIVE CARE |
By TOM GILLISPIE
Ask someone at Trellis Supportive Care about Stan Shuman, and they may not know the name.
But mention the Cake Man, and they’ll know him.
For the last three years, the 79-year-old Shuman has become famous for bringing cakes and other confections to the hospice patients and staff each month and for doing everything else he’s asked to do.
Rebecca Sink is the manager of volunteer services at Trellis and the person who nominated Shuman for a volunteerism award from HandsOn NWNC.
“He’s so dedicated, and he does it for personal reasons,” Sink said. “He’s a Vietnam veteran. He’s so dedicated, so funny, so comical. He’ll also shop for patients and do whatever’s needed.
She says that Shuman, who lives in King, is quick to carry needed items to Trellis’s Stokes County office.
“Stan is the epitome of volunteerism,” she says. “If ‘volunteering’ was in the dictionary, Stan’s picture ought to be there. He’s fantastic. He brings a smile to anyone’s face.”
Shuman says he originally got into volunteerism because of a young wheelchair-bound girl who was in a Special Olympics five-meter walk race. He was her timer. She struggled to get out of her wheelchair, but she did. And Stan cheered her on.
When she finished, she wrapped her arms around his neck and wouldn't let go so he picked her up and took her back to her wheelchair. Stan stayed with her as she got her medal and then he took her back to her car. He's been doing Special Olympics track events ever since.
That was about a half-century ago. With that girl’s plight and his personal difficulties, he’s been volunteering ever since.
“Everybody in my life has died of cancer, two wives, my sister and my mother,” said Shuman, who grew up in South Florida, retired in 1999 and moved to this area in 2006. “And I’m a cancer survivor myself."
He says he does more than monthly cake runs, heading into Winston-Salem almost every day. He shops for homebound patients and runs needed errands. He says he volunteers to honor the memories of the wives, Jodi and Crystal, and all they taught him to be.
Shuman got his volunteerism award, Veteran/Military category, in April, but he downplays awards.
“The award is a comforting recognition that I’m doing something, but it isn't about the award,” he says. “The world is so different now; when we were growing up, the most important word in the language was 'WE'; it was all about family. Now, it's 'ME'; I'm most important. (At Trellis), it’s refreshing to be part of a team that believes in the ‘WE’ concept.”
He calls the cookie runs a wonderful opportunity to get to know the patients and staff.
“It’s a lot of fun, especially for the staff. It breaks the tension,” he says, “and it’s very rewarding to me. I like to make everybody in the building feel important.
“They’re living through a trauma 24/7, working with people who are seriously ill,” he added. “A lot of people don't know how to deal with that. I’ve watched my two wives, my sister and my mom die.
“I know what it’s like; I’m somebody who understands.”
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