There is never a bad time to volunteer, as every volunteer organization that needs people to help accomplish their mission can tell you. The seniors in your life want to give back to their community just as much as you do, and there are ample opportunities for them to do so, no matter what their skills or what way they desire to give back to their community.
There are a variety of religious, nonprofit, and local organizations that could all use help on any given day, and help is wanted no matter where it comes from. Here are just a few ways, then, that the senior in your life can give back to their community in a meaningful manner.
- Assembling care packages for the troops. The troops can use all the love that they can get over in their deployments these days, and it’s work that seniors are well fit for. They can work at their leisure, assembling a package, and maybe even sending a nice letter along with.
- Helping run a table at Church events. Your local church (or mosque, or temple, or synagogue) could use help with running a table, whether it’s to help sell products at a flea market-style environment or to help ladle out food to the poor.
- Mentoring. I know that a lot of the commercials for mentors seem to show young adults or teens, but anyone of any age can be a great mentor to the young. The elderly make a great mentor, too, as they have more life experience to impart to the young minds.
- Driver Safety courses. The AARP runs a program for seniors, operated by seniors, called ‘Driver Safety’, that also gives discounts on car insurance upon the completion. If a senior is interested in helping the program to grow, all that they need to do is take a few classes, and then they can teach other seniors how to drive safely, giving a refresher course to fellow elderly members of our society who still want to be mobile.
For more ideas, you can look online, or you can even look on the Senior Corps website. Yes indeed, back during the John F. Kennedy presidency, the government established the Senior Corps, a government organization that is designed to match seniors to volunteer opportunities that they’re equipped for based on their knowledge, personality, and interests. The Senior Corps even gives training for the jobs in question as well, to ensure that the seniors are good at whatever they’ve chosen to do to help their local community.
Likewise, the AARP, the lobbying firm for the seniors, has a list of opportunities for anyone who is interested in helping out their community, and they are also willing to spend the necessary time to make sure that the seniors are trained to offer whatever services may be required.
Just because someone is getting on in years doesn’t mean that they don’t have something to offer the country and the people around them. Ask your local religious leaders, ask your local charities, and even ask the government for things that your favorite elder can do to help the community today.