I have seen people volunteer for a number of reasons and at different life stages. 

We have volunteers who are retired and are looking to fill their time with consistent activities. Sometimes, they are working and want to dedicate a few hours a week to their community. Some volunteers want to use the skill sets that they have developed in their career. Other times, volunteers are eager about building new skills. 

Though the circumstances vary, volunteering with the following Senior Corps programs is always an opportunity to find purposeful activities that create meaning and connection.

RSVP

RSVP is one of the largest volunteer networks in the country for people 55+. The RSVP program is as diverse as our Boston community, making it possible for older adults to volunteer in many ways and with flexible time commitments, including:

Coaching seniors on how to navigate public transportation,

Teaching ESL, and

Assisting veterans and military families

At the City of Boston, we take a lot of care with the interview process to understand what volunteers are passionate about so we can make a match that’s good for everyone.

Senior Companions

With the Senior Companions program, volunteers work with older adults in Boston who are more frail and just need a little extra support to continue to live well at home. Some ways Senior Companions volunteer their time include:

Driving to important appointments,

Providing light cooking, and

Providing socialization and companionship

This program helps make it possible for Boston’s older residents to live independently in their communities, and it also provides some respite and comfort to families and caregivers. For the older adults they volunteer with, Senior Companions are people you can rely on -- they become friends.

Foster Grandparents

Volunteers in the Foster Grandparents program become an extra pair of eyes and ears in the classroom for children with exceptional needs. They provide individualized support and attention to students in the classroom. Sometimes this includes:

Tutoring,

Mentoring, and

Advocating

For children in this program, a Foster Grandparent is someone steady in their lives: someone who can be counted on.

Ultimately, who makes a good volunteer for these programs? 

Someone who really wants to make an impact. It is about deepening connections in the community, and creating ways for older adults in Boston to continue to share their lessons, experiences, and expertise with the city. 

Tyissha Jones-Horner, Administrative Director of Volunteer Programs at the Elderly Commission, explained that the relationships become more like family.

“Many of the volunteers begin to feel like extended family to the people they serve,” said Jones-Horner. “They are a group of diverse, inspirational folks, each bringing their own unique personality to every opportunity along with a wealth of knowledge and life experiences; they have certainly become a part of my extended family as well.”

The Commission on Affairs of the Elderly facilitates full and equal participation in all aspects of life by older adults in Boston. The commission is dedicated to improving the lives of Boston’s older adults by connecting them with resources and information, and it is focused on setting the city’s direction for successful aging in Boston. Visit www.boston.gov for more information.

“Seniors are a source of energy we need to plug into.” - Becky Polk, RSVP Program Director, Central County United Way

And in Hemet, Virginia Lopez, Thomas Covington, and other retirees interested in crime prevention are “Citizen Patrol Volunteers” through the RSVP program sponsored by United Way. The volunteers help with crowd control at parades and other events, drive a volunteer patrol car to check on schools, and at the Hemet Police Department offices, file, deliver court papers and do whatever else is needed, allowing the department’s personnel to devote time and other resources to more pressing matters. Virginia and Thomas are two of nearly 450 RSVP volunteers that served more than 12,000 hours in Hemet last year.

In Vermont, Theresa Hope has been a devoted Foster Grandparent since 2012. The 80-year old spends nearly all day every school day at the St. Albans City School. In addition to reading to and playing with the children, and helping in other ways, Theresa also works one-on-one with a few students to provide additional support as they progress with their literacy skills. United Way of Northwest Vermont sponsors the Foster Grandparents program, coordinating dozens of volunteers in three counties.

May 15-19, 2017, is Senior Corps Week, a time to recognize the extraordinary impact Virginia, Thomas, Theresa and the other 245,000 Senior Corps volunteers make in their communities, like tutoring and mentoring 267,000 children and helping more than 840,000 frail elderly receive independent living services in 2015. The seniors benefit as much as the people they help, staying active and connected to their community.

Do you know a senior with time and energy to spare? Your local United Way will be happy to channel their energy and enthusiasm in a meaningful volunteer opportunities.

As we embark upon Senior Corps Week 2016, I am reflecting about the years I served as Director of Senior Corps, a politically-appointed position, from 2001 through 2009.

Senior Corps’ RSVP Thames Valley Council for Community Action project hosts a weekly RSVP Veterans Coffeehouse.  The RSVP Veterans Coffeehouse offers a venue for veterans to socialize while offering them information on benefits available to veterans and their families. Regular attendees include representatives of the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Fund and the Veterans Service Office of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs.

The program has proven so popular and effective that U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal now wants to hold similar gatherings across the state. With the help of RSVP coordinator and veteran Greg Kline, TVCCA launched the initiative last April in Killingly to provide a meeting place for veterans in Connecticut’s rural northeastern corner.

Through connections made at the coffeehouse, several veterans have been able to gain access to additional services and benefits for which they were eligible. Two veterans were awarded full disability for Agent Orange complications. A 92-year-old veteran received two new hearing aids at no charge.  Eight veterans began receiving housing, energy, medical and food assistance through the Soldiers, Sailors & Marines Fund. Other veterans are gaining access to health care through the VA as a result of coffeehouse connections.    

The informal coffeehouse setting encourages communication and fosters connections to create a social support network for veterans, who can gather to share common experiences.  For Edgar Muniz, a vet who served with the Marines in the 1960s & 70s, going to the coffee house provides a chance to connect with people who have a shared experience, “Even though people are going through different situations, you can appreciate one another. A vet might feel more secure about talking (to another veteran). Some (vets) don’t want to talk with people who have never been in their shoes.”

The coffeehouse has also proven popular with elected officials. Several local mayors and first selectmen attended the coffeehouse ribbon cutting in September. In early November, 60 veterans were joined by Congressman Joe Courtney and 100 other individuals at a Veteran Corps pinning ceremony at an auditorium in the same building where the coffeehouse is held. Congressman Courtney was joined at the pinning ceremony by two state senators. Later in November, Senator Richard Blumenthal presented a 99-year-old World War II veteran with medals at the RSVP Veterans Coffeehouse.

What if every classroom had a grandparent?

Kids need love. Grandparents are good at giving it.

That’s why an army of them is being recruited by the superintendent of schools in Syracuse, N.Y., where too many students have been getting suspended and too few have been graduating.

Soon, a “foster grandparent” will be stationed in every first- and second-grade classroom in all 18 elementary schools in the city. Superintendent Sharon Contreras is hoping the volunteers will enable more kids to build “a positive connection with an adult in the school building,” which will in turn improve their attendance, behavior, and grades.

The national foster grandparent program, which is overseen and funded by the federal government, matches volunteers ages 55 and over with children who need a mentor, a tutor, or both. There have been foster grandparents in the Syracuse elementary schools for decades, but, until recently, their ranks were thin, as in most school systems.

So far, about 115 out of 131 first- and second-grade classrooms have been staffed, according to Beth O’Hara, the director of senior services for Peace Inc., which operates the foster grandparent program in Syracuse and is working with Contreras to expand its presence in the city’s schools.

Volunteers—who needn’t actually be grandparents, but who are usually called Grandma or Grandpa by the kids they’re working with—commit to spending at least 15 hours a week in the classroom to which they’re assigned, and they’re asked to serve for at least a year.

Though they receive a small stipend, “they’re not doing it for $53 a week,” O’Hara says. “They’re doing it because they want to make a difference.”

Steve Walker, 63, a retired pastor, is volunteering at Dr. King Elementary School under second-grade teacher Caitlin Melvin, and he helps out however she needs him to, he says. Often, that means keeping the kids in order so she can stay focused on instructing them.

“I say, ‘We’re called Team Melvin.’ [And] I’ve convinced them that when they mess up, they affect the whole team. So … if two or three of them mess up I say, ‘Guess what? Y’all messed it up for the whole team. So you guys don’t get recess.’”

But he always gives them a chance to earn it back, he says, and his first priority is to “show them love.”

“Because I know at home, a lot of them aren’t getting any love; they’re not receiving love. Some of them come to school so mad, so frustrated, and so angry. So when I see them I say ‘Good morning’ to them. I’ve taught them [that] when they walk in the classroom, as soon as they open the door, they are obligated to say ‘Good morning.’ So if they don’t, I make them go back out the door and come back in and say ‘Good morning.’”

Ann Calderone, 65, a retired library clerk who assists in a first-grade classroom at LeMoyne Elementary School, spent much of the fall providing one-on-one support to a recent immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The little girl couldn’t speak English well enough to work independently, and the teacher had 24 other kids to worry about, so “Granny Annie” sat with her for weeks and helped her along.

About 20,000 students attend the Syracuse public schools, about 80 percent of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Roughly 20 percent receive special education services, and about 10 percent are refugees. The high school graduation rate is only about 60 percent.

O’Hara and her staff at Peace Inc. are in charge of recruiting, screening, training, and placing the volunteers, who then report directly to teachers.

The federal government is providing $400,000 annually for the expanded program, and the Syracuse Board of Education is kicking in $350,000 per year.