09/16/2026
Happy Monday! Here's the best job description we've ever heard.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, 73-year-old Dave Whitlow walks into the NICU at Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU. Not a doctor. Not a nurse. A volunteer baby cuddler — for eight years now.
He checks with the nurses, watches the monitors, and gives premature and critically ill newborns the one thing no machine can: the comfort of being held. Some of these babies have parents who can't be there every hour — work, other kids, distance. So Dave is there.
And before he lays each baby back down, he whispers the same six words:
"Grow strong. Grow smart. Grow kind."
Somewhere in Virginia, there are kids growing up who will never remember their weeks in an incubator. But someone held them. Someone believed in them.
The NICU nurses who work alongside volunteers like Dave see this quiet heroism every shift. This one's for all of them — and for Dave, who calls it "the best gig" he's ever had.
Sometimes changing a life doesn't take a grand gesture. Sometimes it starts with showing up on a Tuesday.
📖 Story via WTVR CBS 6 Richmond — link in the comments.
