The More You Give, the More You Get: Seniors and the Life-Extending Magic of Volunteering
The More You Give, the More You Get:
Seniors and the Life-Extending Magic of Volunteering
By Kalie Chamberlain
In Jamestown, NC, Thurman Haynes arrives before the school buses. Ready to greet the special needs students as they enter school or energetically teaching them how to play shuffleboard, Thurman is a fixture at the Haynes-Inman Education Center. At 97, he is the school’s oldest volunteer and biggest celebrity. Principal Kevin Carr said, “Thurman helps remind us how important it is to celebrate life every day.”[1]
Across the country, seniors are discovering what Thurman Haynes already knows. Volunteering your time makes you happier and healthier. Additionally, recent research confirms that volunteering does indeed have life-extending properties. These benefits apply especially to seniors.
What Is Volunteering?
A volunteer is “someone who contributes time, effort, and talent to meet a need or further a mission, without going on the payroll,” says Vicki Jo Hansen of Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services. Across the country, millions of volunteers provide hundreds of millions of hours of service. These unpaid helpers boost the economy by providing service for free—and more importantly, they boost morale—their own and the morale within their communities, as well.
If you have donated your time or talents at a local school, church, hospital, or community center, you are one of 970,000 Utah volunteers. In Utah alone, volunteers contribute 165 million hours of service per year. That’s an impact of $3 billion dollars on the Utah economy! Just twenty years after the first volunteer corps was established in Utah, our state now ranks number one in the nation for volunteer service. And we have for the last nine years!
Volunteering isn’t just a local tradition. It is an American tradition. American military and PeaceCorps civilians have offered service to poverty-stricken and war-torn areas across the world for decades. In 1993, the federal government created AmeriCorps, a domestic PeaceCorps. This initiative matches local volunteers with projects in their communities, enriching the lives of needy Americans. Now in its 20th year, AmeriCorps, and its branch of volunteers 55 and older, called Senior Corps, has supported five million volunteers in efforts to improve the lives of the elderly, the poor, the young, and those devastated by natural disaster. It isn’t necessary to cross oceans or continents to serve and give back—although some seniors do! The most valuable service you can give may be waiting right in your own community.
Service Makes Seniors Healthier—Really!
Everyone knows that giving service feels “good.” We like feeling needed and valuable, contributing a portion that improves the whole. But that warm and fuzzy feeling may not just be a sign you’ve been a Danny DoGooder. It may be your body’s healthy reaction to helping.
In an exciting summary of volunteering data compiled by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), researchers concluded that “volunteering leads to better health and older volunteers are the most likely to receive physical and mental health benefits from their volunteer activities.”[2] Seniors who volunteer just two hours a week are more likely to report higher levels of self-esteem and happiness, as well as lower levels of depression. In addition, volunteering reduces mortality among seniors by as much as forty-four percent. Adjusting for other factors, the evidence is clear—volunteering can literally extend one’s life.
One Utah volunteer, Marlene Hafey, has been a volunteer for more than 17 years. As Rides for Wellness volunteer driver, Marlene provides transportation for frail seniors. These trips provide “much needed socialization” for older people on their way to life-sustaining medical appointments, such as dialysis, says volunteer coordinator Vicki Jo Hansen. In addition, Marlene “has helped hundreds of frail and isolated seniors remain in their homes by delivering hot, nutritious meals through her service with Salt Lake County Meals on Wheels.” Hansen explains, “Sometimes Marlene is the only person they see that day…Her visit, along with a hot meal, is truly the highlight of their day.”
While Marlene’s service provides wonderful benefits for aging Americans—health, dignity, and the ability to remain independently in their homes—it has also provided a sense of purpose for her. Marlene “lauds the health benefits” of volunteering. Even when she underwent two surgeries, she was back volunteering her “extraordinary attitude” quickly! Marlene is living proof that the research is correct: volunteering leads to improved well-being and greater longevity.
Why these benefits? Perhaps the answer is complicated, the science linked to an increase in physical activity or the brain’s reaction to social stimulation. Or, perhaps it is simpler. Perhaps when we focus on others, we forget to worry about our own lives and our own problems. Volunteering yields both patience and perseverance, two life-extending qualities. When we serve, we find increased gratitude, love, and sense of purpose. Nothing is as motivating as the thought that someone needs you.
Volunteer Opportunities for Utah Seniors
While you may be aware of volunteer opportunities in your own community—as part of a local school PTA, for instance, or in your city government or church—there are wonderful opportunities for service all around. Some are state-sponsored and some are part of national programs. There are chances to give back wherever you look.
Senior Corps
The Senior Corps is a division AmeriCorps, sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). This federally-funded program connects seniors to local volunteer opportunities that best fit their skills and lifestyle. Three of these programs, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Senior Companion program, and the Foster Grandparents program, are sponsored by local agencies. Check your local county office to find out which programs are available in your area.
The RSVP is “a network of national service programs that provide older Americans, age 55 and older, the opportunity to apply their life experiences to meaningful volunteer opportunities,” says Hansen. In Salt Lake County alone, 225 RSVP volunteers “play vital roles in our community as reading tutors for children and adults, food bank workers, respite support for the families of the chronically ill, and friends to the homeless.” Hansen explains that these volunteers who generously donate their time provide “critical services that so positively impact those in need.” To learn more about the RSVP, contact the local branch in your area.
The Foster Grandparents program places qualified seniors with special needs or at-risk children. As a foster grandparent, a senior mentors, tutors, and supports the child. Because the volunteer earns a small stipend, volunteers must qualify financially to be a foster grandparent. For more information, contact your local agency.
As Senior Companions, retired volunteers assist elderly or homebound individuals who need help carrying out everyday tasks. As a senior companion, you might assist with grocery shopping, provide transportation, or relieve a primary caregiver for a period of time. To find out whether senior companions are needed in your area, contact your local county office.
UServeUtah
UServeUtah is the Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism and a program of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor. The staff at UServeUtah trains Utah volunteers, connects them to projects in their communities, and collects data to measure the impact on the lives of volunteers and those they serve. They also organize activities on national days of service and support local emergency preparedness programs. To find out more, visit the UServeUtah website: http://heritage.utah.gov/userveutah.
The Greatest Gift Is YOU
You don’t have to be a millionaire or even fully retired to be a volunteer. By offering a few hours of your time when you can, you will enrich your community and find a great sense of satisfaction. In the beloved words of John F. Kennedy, now is the time to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” When millions of individual Americans—you among them—answer the call to volunteer and serve, we lift the body as a whole. Don’t let the opportunity to improve your life and the lives of others pass you by. Find an hour to give and in honor of someone else, give it away—today.
SIDEBAR 1
To find out more about Senior Corps programs in your area, contact your local representative, or contact the UServeUtah state office at (888) 755-8824.
Weber County
(801) 625-3777 – RSVP
(801) 625-3865 – Foster Grandparents
(801) 625-3828 – Senior Companions
Davis County
(801) 525-5095 – RSVP
(801) 625-3865 – Foster Grandparents
(801) 625-3828 – Senior Companions
Salt Lake County
(385) 468-3240 – RSVP
(385) 468-3262 – Foster Grandparents
Utah County
(801) 851-7767 – Senior Companions
(801) 851-7784 – Foster Grandparents
Washington County
(435) 673-3548 – Volunteer Services
SIDEBAR 2
National Days of Service
Each year, the CNCS sponsors national days of service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day each January and on Patriot’s Day, September 11. To find out what service projects are happening on these days, contact UServeUtah at (888) 755-8824.
Can’t wait? Then join the movement. National Service Days take place throughout the year—one may be coming right up!
· National Volunteer Week—April
· Join Hands Day—May
· Make a Difference Day—October
· National Family Volunteer Day—November
Start a new tradition and make service an annual family event or cheer on volunteers across the country as they join hands on these days set aside especially for service.
[1]Read more about Thurman Haynes, 2014 winner of the Salute to Service Contest, here: http://www.salutetoseniorservice.com/volunteer-contest/entries/thurman-h/
[2] Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of Research and Policy Development. The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research, Washington, DC 2007. Read the publication online at http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/07_0506_hbr.pdf.