AUBURN - When Tony Lupo's wife, Joanne, was dying of breast cancer in 1999, volunteers and staff from Hospice of the Finger Lakes were in his home, caring for her.

“It put my family at ease,” Lupo said. “I knew somebody was coming in to take care of her. She wanted to be at home when she passed away.”

Hospice volunteers even offered to dust the house, but Lupo said no.

“They're just beautiful people,” he said. “Anything I can do for them, I will.”

On Saturday evening, that “anything” was cooking pasta in the kitchen at the Knights of Columbus Council 207. Lupo and Paul Saltarello were the chefs, along with help from 15 of their friends, for the fifth annual dinner to benefit Hospice of the Finger Lakes. The menu was salad with garlic bread, meatballs, sausage, ziti with homemade sauce and cannoli.

Organizers were expecting up to 300 people, said Terry Kline, hospice's executive director.

With the smell of Italian food wafting through the clubroom, hospice volunteers and staff smiled and greeted diners at the door.

Norma Olcott, R.N. case manager for hospice, was one of the staff members on hand for the dinner.

Olcott helps patients manage their symptoms and serves as a liaison between doctor and patient. She was working in a doctor's office when she became acquainted with hospice staff.

“It's a very spiritual and holistic kind of nursing,” Olcott said. “I just feel like that's where I'm supposed to be.”

Volunteers and staff refer to their work with hospice as a calling, not a choice.

“I know people are always saying that you get back what you give, and you really get that with hospice,” said volunteer Paula Kott, who volunteered at a hospice in Connecticut for 14 years before joining the local hospice when she moved here five years ago.

Before she even left Connecticut, she called Kline to volunteer.

“You find it very difficult to get out of your system,” Kott said.

“It's very moving work. It's a privilege being with a patient during that time, with their families. It's very rewarding.”