SENIOR VOLUNTEERS• Foster Grandparent — 12,000 seniors volunteer through this program in Tennessee, working with at-risk children in schools.• RSVP — RSVP volunteers worked through 700 organizations statewide last year to mentor children, assist victims of natural disasters, improve the environment and provide business and technical expertise to non-profits.• Senior Companions — In Tennessee, 530 older adults were provided with transportation and helped with groceries, paying bills, paper work and respite care.Source: Senior Corps’GET INVOLVEDIf you are over 55 years old and want to get involved, check out the Senior Corps’ website at www.seniorcorps.gov.
In Tennessee and Georgia, community volunteers 55 and older are donating more than $2.5 billion worth of time in after-school programs and social agencies, a report released this week by the federal government shows.
These seniors are filling a huge need for community involvement, officials said. And the work is keeping them young.
Twenty years of research show that seniors who spend their time volunteering delay death, have great functional abilities and lower rates of depression and disease later in life.
As these seniors “get older, their friends may have been passed away. Some are deserted by their family,” said Billie Wright, field supervisor for the Foster Grandparent program in McMinn, Bradley and Hamilton counties. “They get recognition, and they get that social interaction. They love the hugs that they get from the children.”