Volunteer program matches seniors with good causes
Megan Strickland
Senior volunteers work alongside youth from Kicking Horse Job Corps to load food that will feed more than 200 Lake County families for two months.
Megan Strickland
Joanne Shaw works with Kicking Horse Job Corps students to load bags of groceries that will be given to the elderly and small children.
Megan Strickland
Mack McConnell pushes a cart full of cereal and cheese that will be delivered to the elderly and children in Lake County.
Megan Strickland
Joanne Shaw works with Kicking Horse Job Corps students to load bags of groceries that will be given to the elderly and small children.
Megan Strickland
Joanne Shaw works with Kicking Horse Job Corps students to load bags of groceries that will be given to the elderly and small children.
Megan Strickland
Crystal Horsely helps unstack canned goods.
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LAKE COUNTY – Volunteerism is the engine that drives several community organizations that feed, clothe, nourish, and educate people in the Mission Valley, but there never seems to be enough gas, according to Sherlee Santorno. Santorno runs the Retired Senior Volunteer Program through the Western Montana Area Agency on Aging that connects retirees with organizations that need workers.
“My phone rings all day, with people saying ‘I need,’ ‘I need,’ ‘I need,’ but what I really need are people who will pick up the phone and say ‘I really want to do something,’” Santorno said.
Last year, the RSVP program helped 103 volunteers know where assistance was needed so they could work more than 11,000 hours for 28 organizations. The program works as an automated call list that pulls from a pool of registered candidates who might be interested in volunteering. People are sorted by their interests and amount of time they want to work. Whatever the potential volunteer feels comfortable with contributing, Santorno can always find someone who needs help.
For people who have retired from the workforce, volunteering presents an opportunity to remain active and avoid a sedentary lifestyle. Santorno gave an example of a retired banker who had been to three volunteer jobs and been swimming in a day’s time.
“You never know what people will find in their second-opportunity career,” Santorno said. “Volunteering is such an awesome situation. The life expectancy is longer, the quality of relationships is longer. People who go out and volunteer don’t stay cooped up in their homes.”
Last week, at Pablo Christian Church, a dozen senior volunteers worked alongside young students from Kicking Horse Job Corps to help package and deliver commodities that will benefit more than 200 Lake County families. Each recipient receives six bags every other month that contain staples like cereal and cheese, canned goods and juice. It’s far from enough to keep the elderly and pre-school aged recipients completely fed, but it helps.
“People don’t realize that there are a lot of people who might have two working parents on both sides with two little kids that are struggling to eat,” Santorno said.
A lot of people don’t know about the program or volunteering opportunities, said Joanne Shaw of the agency. The number of volunteers has increased over the years, and recently moved to include Kicking Horse students who can lift boxes that normally would send older people to the chiropractor.
“They have been just a Godsend, because most of our volunteers are older, in their 60’s and 70’s, so you need that muscle,” said volunteer Marilyn Forte, who has seen the program grow from a church-run organization that served 30 families 13 years ago to its current huge role.
The students also get to visit and hear wisdom from their elders.
“You’ll have a 22-year-old girl talking about her boyfriend with a 60-year-old woman,” Santorno said.
Crystal Horsely, a 16-year-old automotive mechanic student, said she enjoys working with the senior volunteers.
“They remind me of my grandparents back in Utah,” Horsely said.
Working in the community helps the students in other ways, also.
“A lot of them haven’t interacted that well with society sometimes and this is a good way to get them to do it,” Kicking Horse instructor Gregg Clairmont said. “Some of them come from a gang-style type area where its high pressure, high crime places, and this gets them out and showing that people are worth interacting with. It does help them immensely.”
Commodities distribution is just one of many programs that need volunteers. Some jobs don’t even require leaving home.
“I have volunteers that I’ve never seen,” Santorno said. “ I don’t know if they are handicapped. They do phone calls or they do websites. They sew coats. There’s a tremendous opportunity for whatever your skills are, or a new opportunity to learn more skills … My plea would be that if you think you don’t have anything to give you are wrong. You can make a difference in somebody’s day by volunteering. Whether it’s an hour a day or at a steady location, whatever you like to do, I can help you find a good match.”
For more information about the RSVP volunteer program, including potential insurance benefits that come with volunteering, call (406) 883-7284 or email rsvp@montana.com.
