Feds fund pilot volunteer program for caregiving corps

Scores of volunteer programs serving seniors and people with disabilities already exist, but most are small and many older adults and their families don't know about them. How Care

Corps will build on these efforts is not yet clear. One of the largest is Senior Corps, run by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Through its Senior Companion program,

volunteers age 55 and older visit needy older adults and help them with tasks such as shopping or paying bills. About 10,500 volunteers spend 15 to 20 hours a week, on average, serving

33,000 seniors nationwide through this program. The group also offers less intensive services to 300,000 older adults and people with disabilities through its Retired Senior Volunteer

Program. Recent research from Senior Corps demonstrates that volunteers receive benefits while giving to others. After two years of service, 88 percent of Senior Corps volunteers reported

feeling less isolated, while 78 percent said they felt less depressed. To learn about other volunteer programs in your community, contact a senior center, a nearby Area Agency on Aging or

your county's department of aging, experts suggest. In Montpelier, Vermont, Joan Black, who is 88 and lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment, has been a member of Onion River Exchange —

a time bank — for 10 years. Onion River members contribute goods and services (a ride to the airport, a homemade casserole, a newly knit baby sweater) to the time bank and receive goods and

services in exchange. For years, Black gave out information about the exchange at farmers markets and other community events — her way of banking credits. It's a form of volunteerism

that “creates a sense of community for many people,” said Edisa Muller, chairwoman of the Onion River board. For Black, who lives on a small, fixed income and who can't vacuum, scrub

her tub, dust her wooden furniture or shovel the driveway that leads to her apartment, participating in the time bank has become a way to meet new people and remain integrated with the

community. "I like a tidy house: When things are out of order, I'm out or order,” she said. “I don't believe I'd be able to do everything I do or live the way I do

without their help." _Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not

affiliated with Kaiser Permanente._