The two friends bow their heads over James Herriot’s “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” while a canary named Caruso pours song into the sunny room.

Interfaith Volunteer Caregiver Elise Goodham reads to Virginia Wainwaring Herriot’s tales of animals, an interest the women share. She visits Wainwaring once a week for several hours at a time.

“I bring a book each time,” Goodham said. “We read them because we’re both animal lovers.”

Wainwaring’s daughter Carolyn Pearl, with whom Wainwaring lives, says she often catches herself eavesdropping.

“I may be in the other room,” Pearl said. “I find myself listening. I stop and think, ‘Oh what’s the story about…’”

Wainwaring, who will turn 90 in September, is a beautiful woman, her patrician bone structure and still-erect carriage set off by careful coiffure and dress. But there are the inevitable health issues, and having company is a happy distraction from those problems.

After Wainwaring moved back to the Pacific Northwest, Pearl put her mother on a list for an IVC caregiver.

“We didn’t get anyone for quite a while,” Pearl said. “I told Sue what my mother’s primary interest in life was – animals.”

Meanwhile, Goodham had put herself on another IVC list to provide care. She had heard about the program by chance soon after she moved to Bainbridge.

“It was an accident,” Goodham said. “I had been seriously looking for the perfect volunteer opportunity. I went one time to St. Cecilia and they had a speaker talking about IVC.”

She waited for about six months before she was matched with Wainwaring.

The two hit it off, and now both say they look forward to their weekly meetings.

“We have a regular date,” Goodham said.

Goodham is a nurse at Swedish Hospital in Ballard’s Family Child Birth Center. Wainwaring worked as a stockbroker.

But their mutual interest in animals brings the two together – that, and being relative newcomers to the island.

IVC does make an effort to match client to provider, says Sue Wells, co-director of the non-profit that was founded in 1996.

So successful is the program that it finds itself in a rare position among human services providers – there are currently more volunteers than there are requests for service.

“Right now, we’re providing services for approximately 100 clients on the island,” said Wells. “It can vary, but right now we have a surplus of volunteers.”

The group hopes more islanders will ask for help.

“We are available to those in need,” Wells said, “regardless of resources, age, with or without an affiliation to a faith community. It’s easy to tap into the network.”

Services provided include transportation for medical appointments, shopping, respite care, companionship, as well as other tailor-made services.

“We also do short-term assistance,” Wells said, “for instance, (for) someone who was recently injured or had surgery.”

Having an IVC volunteer visit can give regular caregivers a few hours of respite every week, Pearl points out. When Goodham visits, Pearl says, she has a chance to catch up on bills, or just go for a walk.

Giving and receiving help is a two-way street.

“I don’t see this as ‘helping Virginia,’ but cultivating a friendship that is part of both our lives,” Goodham said. “I feel honestly that, every day when I leave, I’ve learned something from her.”

Wainwaring pays Goodham the same compliment.

“She’s added a lot to my life,” Wainwaring said. “She gives of herself. I don’t know how I got along without her.”

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Volunteers from Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers provide information for those who need help, as well as for those who would like to volunteer, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 12 at Safeway and Town and Country.

Call 842-4441 for more information.