It's not easy trying to find volunteers willing to sity by those in their dying days. "It's tough, " admits Kathleen Merk of the Fort St. John and District Palliative Care Society. 

It's tough, and it also needs training. In the photo above, Bruce Christensen of the Fort St. John Elks Lodge #288 hands FSJ Palliative Care Society Chair Randy Merk a cheque for the group's efforts. The funds will help put volunteers through a 20 hour course to learn how to spend time with and comfort those in their last stages of life.

"You can't just pick somebody off the street to visity someone who is dying, " Kathleen Merk says. "There's a lot to learn."

PHOTO AND ARTICLE COURTESY: Matt Prepost, Alaska Highway News