Topic: Volunteering
... a selection of compelling articles found in newspapers, magazines, and online resources that focus on topics of special interest to those 50+.
Get ready now for National Service Day 9-11-2011
Get involved! September 11 has been designated a National Day of Service and Remembrance.Continue ReadingMark your Calendar...It's time to Explore Your Future
Learning Labs for Nonprofit Leaders!
Shepherd’s Center Central is offering a training program specifically for your nonprofit leaders, executive directors, key board members, and volunteer managers. Continue Reading
Boomers Get Their Groove Back
How they’re finding new careers, becoming activists and making a difference in their communities.
Bill Kalahurka: 60, Kansas City, MO (picture by Parker Eshelman/Aurora Select)
Occupation: Voice-over actor and fundraising consultant.
Groove: He started with Meals on Wheels and soon began reading books to nursing home residents; he also reads newspapers aloud for recordings for the blind.
New office for Coming of Age/RSVP Johnson County
Shepherd's Center Central's Coming of Age/RSVP Johnson County is pleased to announce our new office location in the Carlsen Center of Johnson County Community College.
Older Workers Bring New Purpose to Volunteer Work
CHICAGO (AP) -- Stuffing envelopes is out and meaningful work experience is in for a new generation of volunteers.
Spurred by the tight job market or often career-change aspirations, older workers with specific goals for donating their time are remaking the face of volunteerism. Call it giving back with an agenda.
Executives at nonprofit organizations around the country testify to the new worker demands, many of them from baby boomers used to pushing for what they want. The execs are hardly complaining -- volunteerism is on the rise and it's the older population that's behind it. Click Continue Reading to view the full article.
Continue ReadingVolunteering can be powerful 'medicine'
And, for the more than 1 million Americans with the chronic condition rheumatoid arthritis (RA), volunteering may help them better manage the disease. RA is an autoimmune disease that affects the joints and can cause pain, disability and leave people feeling limited or isolated by their disease. Women are two to three times more likely to have RA than men, and the disease is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 30 and 50.
A new nationwide initiative - Hand in Hand for RA - aims to change that by demonstrating to people living with RA that they can do more. In fact, results of a recent survey showed that a majority of people with RA want to be more active and not feel limited by their condition. Moreover, four in 10 want to give back through volunteering or public service to prove they are not limited by their RA.
"It's the first time that we are bringing together people living with a form of arthritis like RA who would otherwise be held back a little bit by their condition, and give them an opportunity to help out in their community," says Seth Ginsberg, co-founder and president of CreakyJoints, a grassroots arthritis group and a supporter of the Hand in Hand for RA campaign. "We want people to go to the handinhandforRA.com Web site where they can find resources or share their stories of things they've done in the past, and help out a little bit." Click Continue Reading to view the full article. Continue Reading
ABC News: Boomers Refuse to Give Up on Encore Careers
by Terry Nagel from http://www.encore.org/news/abc-news-boomers-determi
Laid-off boomers won’t take no for an answer and are using creative strategies to land encore careers, says ABC News in a report that appeared on Good Morning America today. Three women profiled found their encore careers by being humble, entrepreneurial and open to new ways of networking.
Tory Johnson, author of Fired to Hired, tells Diane Sawyer that Caterina Ramsey, 54, of Belton, Texas, lost her husband to cancer and sought a job in the front office of her daughters’ school for nine months before she accepted the only position offered as a part-time cafeteria monitor. She checked her pride and did that job so well that she was hired for the administrative job she wanted.
After Jan Albert, 56, of Trabuco Canyon, California, lost her real estate job, she spent more time with her aging parents and wasn’t happy about the care they were receiving. She discovered she liked taking care of them herself and began to dream of a new career opportunity. She completed a gerontology certificate program at a local community college and started an elder care service with her sister. Click continue reading to view full article.
Continue ReadingHow to Inspire Others
by Suzy Lee at http://volunteerleaders.org/
In my last blog, I talked about inspiring others. This got me thinking about what “inspiration and inspiring others” means. I started thinking about what inspires me. I volunteer to give back to my community, and I lead to inspire others.
Show Personal Leadership:
In my younger days, I looked at leadership as a command post that only came when you achieved a management title. As I matured, I realized that leadership comes from within.
What we do with the talents we are given and the skills that we learn is a key part of our success as leaders. Inspiring others gives us the opportunity to share that knowledge. It is a big part of the leadership responsibility and accountability I take in performing my volunteer roles.
It begins with a simple, cheery “Good Morning,” which sets a positive tone to begin the day. Throughout the day, I do what I can to enable and encourage open and friendly communications between paid staff and other volunteers to strengthen their relationships and build working teams. Click continue reading to view the full article.
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