How I Finally Found the Right Volunteer Experience

Giving back isn’t always as simple as it sounds, but it's worth it

By Jill Smolowe for Next Avenue


Credit: Getty ImagesMan using computer keyboard, close up


In 2011, social entrepreneur Nancy Lublin had an aha moment: Millennials don’t dial into help lines when they’re in crisis because they hate speaking on the phone. Two years later, Lublin launched the Crisis Text Line, a 24/7 crisis-intervention hotline that enables people to reach out for free help via text messaging — a communication comfort zone for people in their teens and 20s. Plainly, it was an idea whose time had come: In just three years, the hotline’s crisis counselors have exchanged 28 million messages with texters nationwide.

When I first read about the Crisis Text Line, I was instantly interested. Its focus on helping young people in a moment of distress promised to make good use of skills I’d developed as a grief and divorce coach. Couple that with my ongoing search for a satisfying volunteer experience, and it seemed like a slam dunk…

…until I thought about the texting thing. That conjured visions of me tapping out typo after typo with my too-big thumbs on the too-small buttons on my cell phone (a device with which I hardly have a love relationship). I took a pass.

Try, Try Again

As I continued to look for a volunteer opportunity, I was surprised to discover that it’s not so easy to find an outlet that tidily matches the skills and passion you have to offer with the needs of an organization.

One friend told me that she knocked on non-profit doors for years trying to find an outlet for her environmental interests, only to come up empty-handed. Another friend who wanted to do advocacy work for homeless dogs found that the free offer of her time was not enough to get her phone calls returned.

Over the next eight weeks, trainers armed me with a canny array of skills for guiding people through a moment of crisis.

Some of my own efforts proved discouraging. A group that works with grieving children put me through a day-long training, only to notify me that my services wouldn’t be needed at an upcoming weekend-long event. A mentorship writing program that pairs high school girls with professional writers put me on a wait list. Given that I don’t have two heads, do have good manners, and offer a professional track record in both the writing and grief-work fields, I suspected that I was an older candidate than either organization was seeking.

Age proved a non-issue when I signed up for a tutoring program. My fourth-grader and I hit it off from the get-go. But he was a bright 10-year-old boy who didn’t actually need tutoring. Each Wednesday we’d tear through his (boring!) assignments, then play games. Mostly, he kicked my butt at chess. Often our time together felt more like babysitting than “giving back.” (And, ahem, my math skills were not always terribly useful to him.)


A New Approach

Around the time his school year was winding down, my daughter returned from college, absent her cell phone, which mistakenly had gone home with another student. Given my daughter’s 24/7 texting habits, I assumed that retrieving her phone would be a priority. To my surprise, she was actually enjoying the time untethered to a phone. To my greater surprise, that freedom hadn’t cut her off from exchanging texts with her friends.

“I do it on the computer,” she told me.

Subtext: Duh.

Valhalla! Texting via computer would mean a full-size keyboard, a big monitor and none of that annoying thumbs-only stuff that, for me, produces more typos than real words.

Quickly I found my way to crisistextline.org and clicked the “Apply Now” button for volunteers. After clearing the assorted hurdles (including a criminal background check and references from two people) and making a yearlong commitment to handle calls four hours a week, I was assigned to an online training pod.

Becoming a Volunteer

Over the next eight weeks, trainers armed me with a canny array of skills for guiding people through a moment of crisis. The focus was on helping people shift from the heat of despair or upset to a place of cool and calm. The list of potential issues we could expect to encounter was formidable, among them suicide, self-harm, sexual abuse, LGBT bullying, eating disorders and homelessness.

No matter what the crisis, the Crisis Text Line approach was clear: you’re not here to solve people’s problems. Rather, you’re here to listen to them, to validate their pain, to remind them of their strengths, then to work with them collaboratively to identify a goal that will help them to keep moving in a positive direction when the texting conversation (convo, in crisis counseling lingo) ends.

In a nutshell, the text line was offering training for a skill that I hadn’t realized could be taught or enhanced: empathy. Armed with a particular style of questioning and response, it was possible to guide texters away from feelings of extreme distress. The hotline’s data backed that up: while some 70 percent of callers open conversations with dire statements (“I’ve lost the will to live,” “Suicidal feelings,” “I’m overwhelmed and want to die”), only 1 percent require intervention to halt a suicide attempt.

Six months later as I near the 100-convo mark, texters who write, “I’m trying not to cut myself,” no longer throw me. (Tip: Try drawing on your skin with a red marker, then tracing the lines with an ice cube. It “bleeds.”) I’ve yet to encounter any of the one-percenters (roughly 10 texters a day) at imminent risk of taking their lives. But I’ve shared the joy of other counselors who, in collaboration with a supervisor, have mounted successful rescues by tapping into local resources.

A Satisfying Experience

The Crisis Text Line platform is mindful of how intense these conversations can be for volunteers. Though everything is done online and I work from home, supervisors are always available to guide. And there is a chat room counselors can turn to for instant advice from other on-duty counselors while handling a difficult conversation.

In another chat room, counselors can take a breather. There, the messages are always supportive and lively. Given that 77 percent of the hotline’s 2,800 active counselors are between the ages of 18 and 35, favored discussion topics run toward cats, holiday plans and grad school applications.

For the 117 crisis counselors who are over age 55, such dialogue offers a delightful window on Millennial interests and preoccupations. The actual crisis conversations provide a sobering window on the stresses young people face today. “Volunteers over age 55 make exceptional crisis counselors,” Lublin said via email. “Through lived experience, they are (not surprisingly!) committed, highly empathetic and strong active listeners.”

As I pass the halfway mark of my first year as a volunteer (at year one, I get a text line sweatshirt. Woohoo!), I feel that it was well worth the hunt to find a volunteer experience that engages my heart, mind and skills. If you, too, are seeking a satisfying volunteer activity, please trust there are people and causes out there that need your time and experience. Just be forewarned: it may take some trial and error to find what you’re looking for.

 

One Surprising Way Older Adults Can Get Healthier

Credit: Adobe Stock 

You know about the obvious things. Now try this. 

By Dr. Ann Hwang for Next Avenue

Whether or not we actually do the right things to improve our health, many of us probably assume we know what they are. Walk more. Quit smoking. Eat healthier.

It’s a familiar list, and a good one. As a primary care doctor, I spend plenty of time counseling people to do exactly these things. But here’s another, less familiar thing I think you should consider: get engaged in your community. 

The Benefits of Connection 

Civic engagement may not be on the top of everyone’s to-do list, but it probably should be. There is intriguing evidence to suggest that people who are engaged in their communities — through activities like participating in local organizations or volunteering — could also have better health. 

For example, older adults who volunteer are less likely to have high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease; they face a lower risk of cognitive impairment and they might even delay death.

Additionally, forming social connections might be particularly helpful in combatting social isolation and loneliness, a growing problem especially among older adults. People who are socially isolated may have increased risk for premature death and some have estimated that the negative impact of social isolation and loneliness could be a greater public health threat than obesity.

Living alone’ having a mobility or sensory impairment; going through a major life transition (like losing a spouse) or being a caregiver for someone with a severe impairment are common scenarios facing older adults. They are also risk factors for isolation.

Yet despite the potential benefits, the average American is becoming less and less engaged. Participation in clubs and civic organizations has fallen by more than half over the last 25 years and polls suggest growing distrust and pessimism about our political system.
Stories of Hopeful Change

In our work at the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, we’ve seen the possibility and promise of change. We support advocates and leaders — particularly people who have significant health care needs or come from low-income communities — who are actively engaged in working to make the health system more responsive and person-centered.

People like Lezrette Hutchinson, a working mother of three who experienced homelessness after a fire and had significant health challenges after a diagnosis of sarcoidosis, a serious inflammatory condition. Hutchinson got treatment, but she didn’t stop there. She formed a recreational support group for people 50+ and joined the patient advisory board of her health system, saying “we wanted doctors to listen to us.”

Now, despite her ongoing illness, she feels the power of having a larger purpose. Hutchinson says: “I became an activist so I could let new people know it was going to be OK.”

Or Kathy Paul, a 69-year-old woman who advocates for better health care policies for older adults with the Massachusetts Senior Action Council. When her husband died, it was a turning point in her life.

She explains, “With more time on your hands, what do you do? Just sit in the house, stare at the walls and complain, or get out and do something about it? What our group likes to say is, ‘We don’t just take it, we take charge!’” 

Everybody Wins 

As the National Academy of Medicine recently summarized, actively engaging consumers as partners in health care is a win-win proposition, for all of us and for the health system. Health care leaders and policymakers interested in improving health would do well to focus on building more opportunities for engagement for consumers and the communities they serve. 

So if you’d like to improve your health, consider looking for ways to become active in your community. Get involved with a local community organization, drive someone to the polls, join a committee at your place of worship. Find a way to get engaged. Help yourself and help others at the same time.

© Next Avenue - 2018. All rights reserved.

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Digging for Dinosaurs in Retirement

Credit: Museums of Western Colorado
Caption: Retiree volunteer Tom Lawrence excavating dinosaur bone fragments in the field

One volunteer in her 70s made a world-famous discovery
By Cynthia Drake for Next Avenue

As a young boy, Tom Lawrence was fascinated with dinosaurs and dreamed of becoming a paleontologist. Life had other things in store.

But now, at 69, Lawrence drives each week to a building marked “Dinosaur Journey” in Fruita, Colo., walks into a laboratory and helps prepare 152-million-year-old dinosaur fossils. He’s been doing it since 2010. “It was a dream come true,” Lawrence says, of his first experiences working at Dinosaur Journey, operated by the Museums of Western Colorado.

Lawrence and a legion of retirees are finding opportunities to get their hands on prehistoric fossils by volunteering for museums across the U.S. and Canada. And they’re greatly appreciated. Since dig sites are rich with specimens, more help is always needed.

“As a small museum, we rely a lot on volunteers to help fill roles that otherwise we wouldn’t have the staff to do. Volunteers are awesome to work with out in the field — without their work we wouldn’t be able to run the operation the way we do,” says Rob Gay, paleontologist and curator of education at the Museums of Western Colorado.

A Major Discovery

Kay Fredette, 78, began volunteering at Dinosaur Journey in 1986. She sought to reconnect with her interest in natural history after her children left for college.

In 2014, one of Fredette’s discoveries made headlines across the globe.

“We were just digging, and I found a lump, and I said out loud, ‘Oh no, another vertebra,’” she says. “We find many, many vertebrae, and some of them are very, very hard to prep because they’re so complex. The [piece] that I thought was the ball of the vertebra dipped down and rose back up again, and there was another lump. We basically had the end of a drumstick. It was the knuckle end — the distal end of a femur.”

The two-meter-long femur, which took four years to dig out, wound up breaking the record for the largest known Apatosaurus femur in existence.

True, dinosaur digging can be physically taxing for someone in her 70s. “Ibuprofen works wonders,” Fredette says. She keeps showing up to chase the bones, donating about 20 hours of her time each week.

“Every time you find a new bone it’s exciting, because it’s the first one that’s ever been seen by human eyes,” Fredette says. “Even if it’s just a fragment, it’s that kind of jigsaw puzzle solving that’s always fun.”

Volunteers are trained on what to look for when preparing fossils and progress to more challenging projects based on their abilities and comfort level, Gay says.

Confident About Digging Up Dinosaurs

Back in the laboratory, volunteer Betsy Leonard, 63, buffs away rock fragments (called matrix) from a fossil specimen using dental tools such as metal picks, wet toothbrushes and a tiny air compressor. She has been volunteering for about two years and says she’s growing confident in her abilities.

“My very first dig, I broke a [dinosaur] bone,” Leonard says. “I was devastated.” The staff members weren’t. Leonard recalls that they said: “Ah, don’t worry about it. Here’s the glue.”

Often, children will nose up to the windows of the laboratory, which face out to the museum. Then, Leonard will look up from her work, slide open the window and ask, “Have any questions?”

How to Get Involved

Several museums around the country have volunteer opportunities for retirees. Digging typically takes place in summer months and fossil specimens are prepared in labs year-round. If you’d like to become a dinosaur digger, contact your local museum or university to see if they could use you or know who you should try.

The Florida Museum of Natural History and the Wyoming Dinosaur Center at Big Horn Basin are two examples of programs actively recruiting volunteers to help.
If you get the chance to dig for bones in the field, who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next one grabbing headlines for a new discovery.

© Twin Cities Public Television - 2017. All rights reserved.



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Where to Volunteer on the MLK Day of Service

Credit: Thinkstock

By Richard Eisenberg for Next Avenue


In honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service, consider for a moment these two quotes from the esteemed civil rights leader:

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” and “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”

With those words in mind — and 2017 marking the 23th anniversary of the law creating this day of service — I hope you’ll look for a way to do something for others on MLK Day and volunteer. Be great. (Some nonprofits have Martin Luther King Jr. Day volunteering projects on Tuesday, too.)

Volunteer to Commemorate Dr. King

“Volunteering as a way to commemorate the efforts of Dr. King is probably a better way to honor him than going to a sale at your neighborhood department store,” says Delores Morton, president of programs at Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.

It’s easier than ever to find places that could use your help. And it’s not too late. Simply go online to sites that let you find and sign up for volunteering opportunities by your Zip Code and particular interests.

For example, Points of Light has created a special Volunteer Opportunity Search tool just for Martin Luther King Day. “We’re trying to open the door as wide as possible to help people volunteer,” says Morton.

The VolunteerMatch site, which connects nonprofits with people who want to work for them, has a similar feature. (Next Avenue has a link to VolunteerMatch’s general tool to find opportunities and lets you search specifically for ones well-suited to people 55 and older.)

A Day On, Not a Day Off

Or you could visit MLKDay.gov, the website of the U.S. government’s Corporation for National & Community Service, and use its Find a Project tool. This agency urges people to support MLK Day of Service “as a day on, not a day off” — which I think is a pretty great description.

Any type of volunteering would be welcome, of course. But Morton says Points of Light encourages people to honor King by assisting the poor, the homeless and the hungry.

Her group and the Corporation for National & Community Service awarded $125,000 to support Martin Luther King, Jr. Day projects in eight U.S. locations, where 175,000 volunteers will join up to feed the hungry, clean up parks and schools and more.

Daily Point of Light Awards

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Points of Light will also give out its 5,135th Daily Point of Light Award — an honor given to everyday people creating change through volunteering. Christine Wright and her grown daughter, Melanie Stevenson, of the Birmingham, Ala., area, will receive the award jointly for bringing their family to volunteer every MLK Day for more than a decade.

This year, they’ll be helping Habitat for Humanity build a house that’ll provide a permanent home for a Birmingham family displaced by a tornado in 2011. And they’ll work on a landscaping project at a Birmingham elementary school.

Which reminds me: If you have a friend, neighbor, relative or work colleague whose volunteering work is worth honoring, nominate him or her for a Daily Point of Light Award on the Points of Light site. “It’s not about how many hours of service you conducted or how long you’ve served or how big the impact,” says Morton. “It’s about celebrating people doing great work. Points of Light is counting on people to raise up those stories.”

Upon accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, George H.W. Bush famously said: “Any definition of a successful life must include serving others.” Monday will be a good day to help make your life — and perhaps the lives of many others — a success.

© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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Skype Socials Offers New Opportunities to Individuals with Dementia

Every Friday, Kristy and Jayn get together for a Skype video chat. The conversation drifts easily from stories about their families to reflections on their very different upbringings, and then, always, to their mutual passion: cooking. But what makes this conversation somewhat unique is that Jayn has dementia and is living in a memory care neighborhood and Kristy is a 20-something graduate student.

Kristy connected with Jayn, who lives at Summer House at Wesley Palms, through “Skype Social,” a Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing video chat project that helps connect Front Porch employees and volunteers, like Kristy, with residents to create meaningful and engaging conversations.

“I have to admit, I had some preconceived notions of how a Skype chat would go,” Kristy said. “I didn’t have a lot of experiences with seniors other than my grandparents and I wasn’t sure how much we’d have to talk about because of our age difference.” But after almost six months of chatting, Jayn and Kristy haven’t come close to running out of things to say. “I’ve learned a lot from our friendship,” Kristy said. “It’s given me a deeper insight on my life. Her wisdom and experience gives me a different perspective than my peers.”

On a recent trip to San Diego, Kristy decided it was time to finally meet her Skype pal in person. She was nervous that Jayn, because of her condition, might not remember her, but when Jayn saw Kristy she recognized her friend immediately.

“I could see the thrill in Jayn’s eyes - it was a moment I’ll never forget,” Kristy said. “From my own experience of having a family member with dementia, I understand how precious this was.”

According to Julie Santos, project coordinator for Skype Social, the key to the video chat’s success lies in fostering two-sided relationships. “The volunteers have to be open and willing to answer personal questions,” Julie said. “This builds trust with the residents.” Prior to Skype Social a majority of resident participants had never used Skype or any form of video chat software. However, Julie explains, “Having this experience with volunteers not only helps nurture connections and relationships outside of the community, but it also opens up the conversation with family members about using video chat to connect with their love ones when they’re not able to be there in person.”

Recently, Jayn started Skyping with her son who lives in San Diego and the two are planning on setting up a session with family overseas.

Ndinda Spada, life enrichment specialist at Summer House, reflects on the success of the program. “Residents love the face-to-face interaction.” She and her team are now expanding their use of Skype to include group chats which focus around a series of story-prompting questions from LifeBio (a Front Porch partnership program) to initiate discussion.

For Kristy and Jayn the benefits are on-going as their friendship continues to grow and deepen. As Kristy explains, “Making connections shouldn’t be limited by age, otherwise we miss these opportunities to establish truly meaningful friendships. “


Kristy (Chun-Chi) Huang is an intern for the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing (FPCIW) and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Aging Services Management at the University of Southern California, Davis School of Gerontology. Interested in becoming a volunteer at FPCIW? Contact Julie Santos, FPCIW Project Coordinator at jsantos@frontporch.net.

Yo Se Quien Soy / I Know Who I Am

By Jose Frescas, resident at Wesley Palms Retirement Community

I was the middle child in a family of six brothers and five sisters, born and raised in Woodland, California about fifteen miles from Sacramento.

From the day of my birth until I entered high school I was Jose. The policy of the school was that all Latino students should be called by Anglicized names. I suddenly became Joe. My parents were greatly upset by this. They had christened me Jose and preferred that to be how I was known. But they were also greatly concerned that I not be disobedient to a teacher, or "make waves" with the school authorities. So, Joe it was.

Just how traumatic that change may have been, and how much it influenced my sense of self-awareness is difficult to estimate, but the fact that I still feel constrained to talk about it all these years later must mean that its effect was significant. I do know that I felt then, and still feel today, that my identity had been stolen.

Subconsciously at least, I am sure it was involved in my decision nearly three decades later to study to become a Counselor. I was acutely aware that I had purposely chosen that path so that I would have the opportunity to work with other minority youth in helping them recognize their true potential and dare to pursue their dreams.

A rather indirect path had brought me to that time and place. Immediately after graduating from high school I enlisted in the Marine Corps and spent eight years in that service. Looking back I feel these were largely wasted years.

On becoming a civilian again I began to look around for a college to attend. No member of my family had ever pursued education after high school, and I remain the only one who has chosen that path. Since that opportunity for me was made possible by a service related disability pen­sion, I have to reconsider my earlier remark that my years as a Marine were wasted years. My Bachelor’s degree was earned at the University of San Diego and followed by a Masters in Counseling at the University of New Mexico.

I then went back home determined to become a counselor, friend and role model for other minority young people in the school where I felt my identity had been denied. The obstacles put in my way were too great to overcome. I persevered for only five months before deciding that the achievement of my goals could only be realized working outside the system. My parents had earlier shied away from "creating waves", but they had produced a son who did little other than that. I was not a trouble maker, but I was determined to give minority kids the helping hand that was never outstretched to me. Working in volunteer activities seemed the best approach to accomplish that goal.

Whether or not I succeeded is up to others to judge. I do cherish a resolution passed by Yolo County officials when I retired after 16 years of service to the Yolo Social Services Advisory community." They said my "lifetime commitment to those less fortunate will be forever remembered as an inspiration to others who believe in the future of Yolo County."

I have been told that I am the only person to be singled out for home by this civic body. Regardless, I am grateful that I had the chance to spend my life this way.


Yo Se Quien Soy / I Know Who I Am is an excerpt from Aging As An Art Form: Through the Eyes Of Residents of Wesley Palms by Wesley Palms resident Don McEvoy. The book contains 50 stories, experiences and life lessons either self-written or told to Don through interviews.

Don McEvoy is storyteller, former pastor and civil rights activist. Aging as an Art Form is available from Outskirts Press and Amazon.com. Proceeds from the book benefit the residents of Wesley Palms.

Where Older Workers are Valued and Honored

Volunteering as a docent in retirement can deliver generous rewards

By Kathryn Lance for Next Avenue

Credit: Kathryn Lance Caption: Ann Nierenberg, docent at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Although it’s common to hear of older workers being laid off or pushed into retirement, there is also one type of place where older people are valued and sought-after: museums, art institutions, zoos and other venues that rely on unpaid docent volunteers in their 60s, 70s and 80s. I speak as someone who has found a new life as one of those older docents.

Six years ago, at 66, I visited Tohono Chul Park, a nature park near where I live in Tucson, Ariz. I’d been looking for a volunteer opportunity and was struck by the knowledge and enthusiasm of the docents who worked there, giving their time and expertise to educate others about the desert. I learned that these docents not only answered visitors’ questions, they led tours, interpreted (taught about) birds, plants and animals and manned special stations that demonstrate desert lore.

From Professional Writer to Docent

After 40 years as a professional writer, I was ready to try something new. “I could do this,” I thought. “I could become a nature docent.”

Three months later, I was sitting in a classroom with 20 other late-life learners, studying the plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. Every week of our training, we were expected to roam the grounds and identify plants, as well as take and pass quizzes. It was much like a college seminar, except for the ages of the participants.

When I graduated six months later, I knew more than I could have imagined and couldn’t wait to share my knowledge with park visitors. The word “docent,” after all, comes from the Latin docere, “to teach.”

I liked being a nature docent so much that four years later I also enrolled in the docent program at the world-famous Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a combination zoo and desert botanical garden near Tucson.

Why Older Docents Are Prized

Marie Long, Associate Director of Conservation Education & Science there, explains that when interviewing prospective docents she looks for “a passion for learning, the desire to share knowledge with others, a positive attitude, love of the Sonoran Desert and the desire to work with youth.” She especially prizes applicants over 50, because, Long says, “this group is transitioning from their professional careers and looking to reconnect with personal interests, give back to their communities, and connect with new friends with similar interests.” She finds them “among the most dedicated and mission-supportive people in our volunteer corps.”

Many older docents volunteer at more than one venue as I do. Priscilla Herrier, 69, who docents at Tohono Chul Park and the Tucson Museum of Art (TMA), admits that being a “double docent” is time-consuming, but she loves her work at both places.

“Tohono Chul nurtures my love of the desert and the Southwest and TMA nurtures my love of art,” says Herrier. “Both offer me the pleasure of working with the public, meeting people from many different places and constantly learning new things.”

The ‘Best Part of the Experience’

Visitors to the venues where I volunteer frequently remark in surveys that the docents are the best part of the experience. The comment cards often speak of the docents’ warmth and depth of knowledge.

“They made us feel as if we were visitors in their home,” one family told the Desert Museum. A high-school teacher described her students’ visit as “like taking a bunch of little kids to Disneyland.” Just the other day, a longtime resident of Tucson thanked me for teaching her about the local trees. “I’ve lived here 40 years,” she said, “and now I see the desert in a whole new way.”

Though they are not paid, docents are rewarded by their institutions in various ways, ranging from badges for the amount of time donated to free admission for family members. But most would agree that the real reward is docenting itself.

Noreen Geyer-Kordosky, 67, who has been a docent at the Desert Museum for more than 35 years, says she “enjoys helping visitors look at ways to become good stewards of the environment.” First-year Desert Museum docent Betty Eppler, also 67, agrees that interacting with visitors is her favorite part of the job. And, she adds, “it’s nice to be regarded as a competent and valued individual as well. This is not a common experience for older people, especially women.”

Where to Find Docent Openings

If you’re interested in becoming a docent in retirement, there are opportunities in every city and state in the country. In addition to zoos and art museums, countless other specialized institutions such as the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village in Dover, whose docents interpret the history of agriculture in America. The Smithsonian Institution, which has nearly 10,000 volunteers among its 19 museums and research facilities, offers a huge range of opportunities for its docents.

To find docent positions in your area, check the websites of museums, zoos and other public institutions and look for “volunteer opportunities.” Most places offer docent training once every year or two and require a volunteer commitment of two years. Docents typically work for one hour or more one to three days per week, but this varies by institution as well as by docent.

Loren Bullock, who is still a docent at 90, has volunteered at various Smithsonian venues since 1959. He currently works at the National Postal Museum which documents the history of the postal service. Bullock, who retired from marketing computers in 1989, was attracted to docenting because of his love of history.

He takes seriously the purpose of the Smithsonian, described by its founder James Smithson as “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Docents fulfill that purpose, Bullock says, as “storytellers who make our history and culture come alive for visitors,” adding with a joke that “Being a docent is fun, and allows us to contribute to others; besides, they double our salary every year!”



© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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Pet Rescue Missions Give Shelter Animals and Retired Pilots a New Leash on Life

By Judith Reitman-Texier for Next Avenue

Volunteer pilots fly thousands of animals to safety each year.

I am belted into the cockpit of a Cessna 182, a four-seater single-engine plane, flying 5,000 feet above the North Carolina/Virginia border. The pilot, Thomas Hendrickson, points to the silhouette of the Appalachians and the blue-gray rivers fanning through miles of farmland. The flight from Horace Williams airport in Chapel Hill, N.C., to Tappahannock-Essex Airport in Virginia is an hour and a half, much quicker than what would have been a four-hour car ride, meaning less stress for our passenger. Heather, a fawn-colored collie rescued from a kill shelter, is normally skittish, but as we fly over those rivers, she is sprawled Zen-like in the Cessna’s back seat.

When we land in Tappahannock, a rat terrier with a surgically wired jaw is waiting to board Heather’s connecting flight. Pilot Bernie Frankowiak, 50, CFO of a car dealership, will take Rocky, the terrier, to Redding, Penn., where another pilot will fly the dog to his adoptive home in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Frankowiak will continue with Heather to Brandywine airport. There, a representative of Rescue Express will take her to her foster home.

Writer Judith Reitman-Texier at Tappahannock Airport with Heather.

Hendrickson and Frankowiak are part of a network of thousands of volunteers who fly dogs and cats—and sometimes hamsters, snakes and birds — thousands of miles for organizations with names like Paws N Pilots, Flying Fur Rescue, Dog Is My Co Pilot, and Animal Rescue Flights (ARF). The animals are on the euthanasia list at kill shelters located mostly in the South. In Idaho, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Utah and other states that enforce spay neuter laws, rescue groups and adopters await them.

Who’s Saving Who?

The pilots receive no pay and, in fact, dig into their own pockets to fund flights. Victor Girgenti, a Long Island businessman in his 50s, has flown his Piper Meridian on 750 “missions” for Animal Rescue Flights; he spends about $1,000 in jet fuel per flight.

For these animal-loving flying buffs, mission trumps cost.

“We bring animals from places they will die to places that want them, where they will live,” says Dr. Peter Rork. The 62-year-old retired orthopedic surgeon founded Dog Is My Co-Pilot shortly after the death of his wife in 2012. Three times a week, he flies upwards of 50 dogs from western kill shelters to safe havens. “You save animals, but I feel they save me,” he says.

Businessman and amateur pilot Jon Wehrenberg found himself languishing in retirement when an animal rescuer asked him to fly a dog interstate, fast. At 64, he co-founded Pilots N Paws, which now has over 5,000 pilots flying 15,000 animals to rescue each year.

Flying for rescues provides a renewed sense of purpose to these hobbyist pilots who, like their passengers, are moving into a new stage of life.

“I feel useful and appreciated,” says retired lab technician Frank Walters, 62. Jerry Perleman, a retired music teacher from Roslyn, N.Y., values the camaraderie: “You’re stepping up to the plate as part of a team.”


A Need for Speed

Each day, 10,000 animals are euthanized in shelters across the county; that’s about 4 million dogs and cats every year. In many cases, the otherwise healthy dogs and cats could have found adopters in other states, but transportation is the challenge. Animal rescue groups network with ground transporters, but long hauls are stressful on crated animals and animals in kill shelters don’t have time to wait for scheduled transport. Pilots, on the other hand, can fly with little advance notice.

“It’s terrible to think an animal is going to die because he has no transportation,” says Jeff Bennett. The retired Florida businessman has flown more than 4,000 animals in the past four years on Pilots N Paws missions. Twice a month, he loads up his Cirrus SR22 with dogs and cats from the South and brings them to Florida rescues.

For Bennett, 56, the most poignant moments are on landing, when adopters first greet their new companions. “Especially the military personnel with PTSD, when they first meet their dogs, it brings tears to your eyes,” says Bennett.

Pilots N Paws and similar networks do not arrange the flights; they simply post a rescue group’s need for transport:

Blind lab needs ride from Lake City, FL to Franklin, MA. Distance 1039 miles.

Transport PTSD Service Dog to FL from Rochester, MN. Distance 925 miles.

Within a day, several pilots responded to the request to fly Heather, each offering a leg of the journey; within two days, the schedule was set.

Marines with PTSD meet their service dogs

.Happy Passengers

Most of the time, the dogs and cats are crated. Sometimes they are tethered to a seat or get a first-class ride with the pilot.

Rork flies his Cessna 206 with the largest dog in the passenger seat. Victor Girgenti recalls flying a nervous 175-pound mastiff/Great Dane named Sam who was too big for a crate. The dog occupied himself in the back of the jet with a bag of dog food…until he found his way to the passenger seat where he settled in, calmly gazing out the window. Layla, a rescued black lab on her way from North Carolina to service training in Ohio, sat on the lap of Pilot.dog’s co-founder Pam Rhodes, while her husband piloted.

“The animals know you are saving them,” says retired international airlines pilot Keith Becker, 69. Becker has flown 107 missions and over 450 dogs and cats for Pilots N Paws over the past few years. On one trip, he had tethered a large Doberman behind his seat. “When we landed, that dog gave me a big wet kiss on the back of my neck,” he recalls. “You can’t find a more grateful — or affectionate, passenger.”

Most of the pilots are men. But several woman have been among the trailblazers. Debi Boies, an animal rescuer, founded Pilots N Paws in 2008 with Jon Wehrenberg in 2008. Pat Picornell, 55, a wealth adviser, began a Bahama route for that organization when shelters there began closing. She herself has flown more than 1,000 island dogs to mainland rescue groups.

“It’s something to look forward to,” Picornell says. “When the weather is beautiful, why not make a flight and pick up some dogs?”



© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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The Unexpected Benefits of Volunteering in Nature

When 'citizen scientists' help gather data, they don't get paid, but the rewards are priceless

By Akiko Busch for Next Avenue

 

iStockPhoto/ThinkStock

There’s something innately restorative to the human spirit about watching the flow of water in a stream, and this is especially true in spring. The frozen landscapes and frigid temperatures of the winter months can cast a stillness across one’s interior terrain as well, so to watch the current of a river in May is surely to come alive again.

That sense of renewal is even greater, though, when it extends from one’s own spirit to the larger environment. Which is just what happens when I go to watch for the herring in the annual spring monitoring program.

Herring spend most of their life at sea, returning to the freshwater rivers and streams they were born in once a year to spawn. In recent times, however, their numbers have declined dramatically, possibly because of overfishing, diminished water quality and/or habitat loss. Or maybe something else entirely.

Fishermen, researchers and environmentalists would all like to understand what’s causing this. To this end, volunteers help scientists monitor the herring’s arrival into the tributaries of the Hudson River and collect baseline data about these changing migration patterns. And while we citizen scientists know we’re helping out, what we get in return is worth far more than the time we give.

The Call of the Wild

This is not difficult work. It requires only that one stand at a bridge or the edge of a waterway for 15 minutes twice a week in April and May, look for signs of the herring, then write down what is seen — whether herring are there or not. This is about absence or presence. And if those minutes spent watching the drift and surge of a stream are a regenerative way of witnessing spring, the experience grows in meaning when what you find contributes to some broader knowledge base about the stream and the species that live in it.

The herring project is only one of many hundreds of such endeavors nationwide, on land and in water, that are part of the emerging practice of citizen science. Typically defined as projects in which ordinary people — kids, college students, retirees and anyone with an interest in observing natural phenomena — partner with scientists to answer real-world questions, such efforts can involve reporting dates on ice melt in early spring, identifying the habitats of amphibians in vernal pools or tracking the migration of monarch butterflies.

Some participants get involved simply as an excuse to get outdoors. Others may be motivated by an interest in conservation. Or they could be driven by a greater sense of urgency. A sense of impending crisis in the natural world — whether habitat loss, a warming climate or a burgeoning human population of 7 billion plus — is what prompts many of us to sign up for citizen research projects.

For their part, scientists have recognized the value of volunteer labor at a time when their own financial resources are stretched more than ever. And new technologies, like GPS, interactive websites, digital photography and mobile phone apps, have made the collection of data even by amateurs reliable and efficient.

This kind of participatory research is flourishing. And at a time when our sense of place is often frayed, documenting the arrival of spring birds, gathering information about fireflies on a July night or simply measuring rainfall are all good ways in which to collect important data about the natural world and to gain a deep connection to our habitats.

It occurs to me that such projects can have particular meaning for midlife volunteers. It is common knowledge that a desire to volunteer is part of the American character today and that a good portion of this nascent labor force are people over 62. Statistics tell us that 7 in 10 people over 62 freely donate their time, and many say this work is among the most sustaining endeavors of their adult life.

We are, I like to think, at a stage in life when we know how to pay attention. And attending closely to the world outside of ourselves is what is demanded here. Like data sheets for other such research efforts, those for the herring projects require precise details. They ask that I break down the components of the day, and when I do, I find that there is a meditative quality in recording the temperature of the air and of the water, the quality of cloud cover, precipitation, tide and water clarity.

Having to document such details is a step toward becoming a better observer. The task requires a scrutiny of small increments I might otherwise miss and demands a focus that came to me less easily when I was in my 20s and 30s.

The opportunity to watch things intently and thoroughly offers a reprieve from our attention-deficit culture. There is no room here for distraction, for the fragmented, split-screen thinking that is so endemic in other parts of my life.

There’s also space on the data sheet for “other.” That could be the great blue heron poised on the opposite river bank, the muskrat slipping along the concrete embankment of the bridge, even the overheard offhand remarks of the angler.

And then there was the afternoon I finally saw the herring. Their quicksilver movement as they shimmered through the current made it nearly impossible to calculate their numbers, surely an exercise akin to measuring shadow and light. But with Polaroid sunglasses and uninterrupted attention, I settled on a figure.

“Number of herring present (circle one)” the data sheet instructed. And I filled in the small circle next to the numbers 11–100.

But what I saw was not the fish with a small dorsal fin, a split tail and spot behind the gills that I had been looking for, but rather, a silvery, iridescent flash in the creek, a bit of radiant ribbon flickering in the water. The herring were there without doubt, yet they made themselves manifest in a way I had not anticipated.

All of which is to say, paying close attention to occurrences in the natural world is like paying close attention to anything else in life. Oddly enough, the rewards can multiply. Or at least double — because inevitably, you find both what you are looking for and what you never expected.

Copyright© 2014 Next Avenue, a division of Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.

Front Porch is a not-for-profit support system for a family of companies that serve individuals and families through full-service retirement, active adult communities, and affordable housing communities.

 

More information is available at www.frontporch.net.

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Volunteer Puppy Love: Raising a Service Dog

Service groups rely on volunteers to socialize their dogs. Could you be a puppy raiser?

By Debbie Swanson for Next Avenue

Thinkstock

Today's new breed of service dogs provides assistance in a variety of ways beyond their best-known role as escorts for blind companions. They retrieve household objects for people with limited mobility, act as ears for hearing-impaired individuals, monitor children with life-threatening food allergies and more. Some researchers are even exploring the role dogs can play aiding adults suffering from dementia.

All of these impressive adult dogs, though, start life much like any other puppy, growing up in a home where they're loved, socialized and taught basic obedience. Volunteers are a critical part of this process. Because of the high demand for service animals, most training organizations rely on outside help to oversee their dogs' early care, usually from the time a puppy is about 2 months old until sometime between his first and second birthday.

"We could not do what we do without our puppy raisers," says Nancy Fierer, director of Susquehanna Service Dogs in Pennsylvania, which has more than 60 puppies receiving early socialization in volunteers' homes at any given time.

Who Makes a Good Volunteer?

An extensive background with dogs is not required to raise a service pup, says Joyce Thielen, board member (and three-time puppy raiser) with Canine Partners of the Rockies in Colorado. If you want to bring some puppy love into your empty nest — and make a difference in your community — becoming a volunteer "puppy raiser" may be for you.

"Puppy raising is an opportunity for someone who is nurturing and interested in the way a puppy learns," Thielen says. "You're expected to give the puppy your time, energy and love and attend regular training sessions."

Agencies ask that everyone in your home be consistent with the training methods and remain mindful that the puppy isn't a permanent member of the household. "Stay flexible, do your best, listen to your pup, ask for help and enjoy the lovely dog you are raising," Thielen says.

Many service-pup hosts are empty-nesters for whom the companionship enlivens otherwise quiet homes. "I received my puppy to train as my youngest child went off to college," Thielen says. "I had wrapped up my career with the public-school system and had just lost a parent for whom I was the primary caregiver."

What's Expected

Once a service dog starts working, he will accompany his future client everywhere, from medical appointments at hectic clinics to raucous family gatherings to quieter work or school environments. Time spent with a puppy raiser in a variety of situations is invaluable training. "The most important part of being a puppy raiser is to work on socialization and house manners," says Carol Nesbitt, who has raised three pups through Susquehanna Service Dogs. "You need to teach the dog self-control, house training skills and crate training."

Since socialization is so important in preparing a puppy for his career, volunteers are asked to take the dogs out as much as possible, even if it slows their routines down a bit. "You'll have the puppy with you most of the time," Nesbitt says. "That means a quick trip to the grocery store may take an extra 30 minutes. Some raisers bring their puppy to work and have a crate there."

Puppy raisers must also attend basic training classes with their charges, typically at the service organization overseeing the dogs or with an approved service-animal trainer. You'll learn how to teach basic obedience skills and will be expected to practice drills frequently. But you don't have to do it all on your own. You'll be supported by an extensive network, including professional trainers and more experienced volunteers. Most organizations also have pre-approved dog sitters on call should its volunteers need short-term puppy care.

Rough Goodbyes

It's only natural that after sharing your home and watching a puppy learn and grow, turning him over can be emotional. "It is very hard," says Donna Travis, a volunteer with Susquehanna Service Dogs who recently completed training a puppy for the first time. "The puppies are so cute and you've bonded."

While there's no easy solution for the pain of separation many volunteers experience, most say they find comfort thinking about the good work the dogs will do for others. "As a raiser," Travis says, "you are reminded always that it is not your dog. They're not pets; they have a job to do."

Travis received Judge, a black Labrador retriever, when he was 8 weeks old. When he was 1 1/2 years old, he began living weekdays at an advanced-training kennel, returning to her home on the weekends. At age 2, Judge left permanently to begin serving his client. Like most such agencies, Susquehanna Service Dogs does not allow puppy raisers to visit with dogs once they have moved on, but it does send Travis photos and updates about Judge's success.

"We know he is loved and cared for and has a fulfilling life," she says. "It blesses us over and over each time we think of how he is helping someone have a life in the community again. You feel very proud knowing you had a part in that.

"It is bittersweet, but we would do it again and again," she says. "You just can't say no. Instead, you say, 'How can I not raise a puppy to be a service dog for someone?'"

Copyright© 2014 Next Avenue, a division of Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.

Front Porch's Peggy Buchanan and Mary Miller talk about their passion for raising service dogs

Front Porch is a not-for-profit support system for a family of companies that serve individuals and families through full-service retirement, active adult communities, and affordable housing communities.

More information is available at www.frontporch.net.

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