Volunteering after 50: The Invisible Force is YOU
Think you’re too old to volunteer? Think again! Invisible Force, a Minnesota collaboration of individuals and organizations working to promote and support volunteerism by those age 50 years and older, has spent 11 years encouraging older adults to give back. Their work shows that seniors (and if we’re saying seniors are 50+ years old, that’s me, a full-time working woman who is now 53) are a force to be reckoned with. Here’s how to be part of the “Invisible Force” changing lives in communities across the United States of America.
Find your “Spark” and you’ll set something or someone on fire.
What is it you LOVE to do in your free time? Read to children, paint, garden, teach others, play music, type, cook, build, organize, create? Take what you love and ask if you can share it with others at schools, senior living homes, churches, community centers, Sunday school classes, singles groups, park and rec centers, music studios — wherever may need your passion. ? I call this “ACTION fueled with PASSION.”
Match your for-profit skills with a nonprofit and expand its cause exponentially.
Were or are you an accountant? Teacher? Welder? Logger? Farmer? Mechanic? Manager? Yoga instructor? Find a nonprofit that is raising money for a monumental mission, ministry or cause you care about. If they don’t have to pay for your skills, they’ll have more dollars for their mission and you’ll set them and the people they serve on an inspirational high as you work in short spurts, volunteering your skills.
Healthcare systems are the perfect place for intergenerational care volunteering.
Are you patient at listening? Do you have a nursing or caregiving certification? Did you or do you work in a group home? Are you young at heart or mature at heart? Do you like to sit? Do you like to chat? Helping the care givers, or helping those who need care themselves is an area of concern as people live longer and have more social needs. You can make a difference in an individual’s life by visiting with them, catching up on the news or listening to what they remember about current events in their day. Offer to play cards, board games, take a walk and look for budding flowers, read newspapers, make a craft, take photos, etc!
In my volunteer discussions, I point to some other health research that concludes volunteers are healthier, happier, have less pain and get sick less often than those in the same age group that don’t volunteer. And the older the volunteer is, the higher the level of benefits! We are indeed a force to be reckoned with – an invisible force that is changing communities. Organizations should be reaching out and asking you to volunteer, but if they aren’t, then they REALLY need you. Reach out to them and volunteer today!
If you need help getting started or would like a presentation on this subject for your business, ministry, congregation, school, club or group, contact us for more information. Or find out how you can volunteer at one of our communities.