Join over 200,000 seniors who are volunteering across the country as members of AmeriCorps Seniors. If you are 55 or older, this is a terrific opportunity for you to stay active in your community, meet other service-minded individuals, and share the skills you’ve developed over the years.
RSVP provides many different types of opportunities for you to lend a hand locally. You might help address hunger or help folks obtain the health insurance that best meets their needs. You might support the work of a food pantry or help a local tax-aid program.
Our program allows you to set the number of hours you’d like to help, and schedule your volunteer work when it is most convenient to you. You can even volunteer at specific events, if you don’t have time to commit to regular volunteering. We have many opportunities that allow you to help out from the convenience of your own home.
Volunteering can do wonders for your own health and well-being! Studies have shown that connections made while volunteering keep folks from the ill effects of being isolated. Those who volunteer are more likely to live longer than those who don’t. While you’re volunteering, you enjoy the good feeling that comes from helping others less fortunate than you.
While we have many general types of opportunities for you to share your skills, we also have some specific ways for you to make a difference locally.
Want to help your neighbors as they wade through the many Medicare options? Want to help them avoid Medicare frauds and scams that plague more vulnerable seniors? You can do that and more by working for the Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program. As a SHIBA volunteer, you provide the info folks need in order to make their best decision for their Medicare coverage. You coach and counsel to help others select their plan and enroll in coverage. We make sure that you get the training, support, and mentoring you need to succeed in this important volunteer position.
You can help residents get their taxes prepared and filed for free. The IRS often owes refunds to those you’ll help, so not only will you put more money in local pockets, you’ll improve local economies. You can play a couple of roles in this program. If you enjoy working with folks, you can serve taxpayers by making them feel welcome and at ease as you greet them, gather and organize their paperwork, and describe the tax prep process. If you enjoy working with numbers, you can actually prepare tax documents so they are ready for filing. Either way, we provide all the training you need so you receive IRS certification. You don’t need any prior experience to help.
Many vulnerable folks, especially seniors, are falling victim to increasing numbers of frauds and scams. People’s very identities are up for grabs, with the bad guys looking to steal credit card numbers, social security numbers and more. Keep your community in the know so they can best avoid these schemes. We are looking for some dedicated individuals to pilot our new regional scam prevention program. We’ll provide the training you’ll need to help others out. And you’ll be better prepared to protect yourself from the headaches and hassles that victims of fraud and scams suffer.
Our RSVP program meets the needs of countless numbers of residents, while providing opportunities to hundreds of seniors. If you’d like to lend a hand so our program reaches the most folks possible, we’d love to have you join us to provide program support. You’ll have an opportunity to strengthen our entire volunteer network.
Are you interested in developing or sharing leadership skills to support RSVP? We are always looking for people who would like to serve on our Advisory Council. Here, you’ll join a team advocating for us in local communities, helping guide us as we examine new opportunities, providing innovate solutions to local challenges. If you think you might be interested, we’d be happy to have you sit in on a Council meeting, so you can get a better idea of how we work together. Our meetings are virtual and we meet quarterly.
In you’d like additional information about serving as a volunteer or joining our Council, please contact us at (541) 492-2102 in Douglas County or (541) 956-4472 in Josephine County.