When Your Work is Volunteering

Another Way for week of October 2, 2020

When Your Work is Volunteering

(Editor’s note: Sixth in a seven-part series on the nature of work.)

Many people of all ages get a lot of inspiration and validation from volunteering: we feel good helping others feel better.

This is especially true in retirement when one’s work can be totally volunteer. Experts say it is wise to have interests to keep us motivated, involved, and helping society as we get older. Of course, the current pandemic has made a huge dent in what older people (especially) feel safe doing.

My mother has found fulfillment through a variety of volunteer jobs over the years. At 96 and not able to drive anymore, the options for volunteer work have changed, but not the will and opportunity. She nudged me to write about this topic because she hopes others might decide to get involved in volunteer work too.

Mom especially enjoyed her early years volunteering at her retirement complex. She greeted people who wished to visit the healthcare part of the facility, or helped them if they needed directions to a room. Mom had some scary challenges at times. One night a resident with memory issues wanted to go where he wasn’t allowed and she had to stop him. “You can’t tell me where to go,” he spouted.

But those were the exceptions. “I got a free dinner at the Sideboard [the in-house cafeteria for staff and guests] when I worked. They gave me a volunteer pass and I got all kinds of delicious meals!”

Mother also read to a blind woman—short stories from books like Chicken Soup for the Soul. She grew close enough to the woman and family to hug the daughter at the woman’s eventual funeral. “When you could hug in those days,” Mom reminisced.

Then a good friend of hers from childhood couldn’t see to read, so Mom began reading for Mabel. “We grew up together, went to the same church and our mothers quilted together,” Mom said. In these later years in healthcare, Mabel couldn’t sing much but they sang together anyway and also cried together. “She lost two children,” Mom recalled sadly. And then her husband died after a fall on his head.

Earlier when our family lived in north Florida, Mom and women from our church drove to a facility where people needed help writing letters to their families. “Sometimes I just kind of made up stuff if they couldn’t think of what to say, and I read it to them and asked if it was ok.” Mother still enjoys writing letters.

When my dad retired from farming, they volunteered for a couple months each winter in south Texas. They helped those with disabilities get in and out of a therapeutic pool, and played Bingo at a nursing home. My parents enjoyed the camaraderie with other volunteers in the SOOP program which at one point stood for Service Opportunities for Older People. Now it serves anyone—including families who want a short or long term service experience.

When Mother could no longer drive and couldn’t quilt because of arthritis, she began grading Bible correspondence courses for prison inmates through a program called Gospel Echoes. Since Mother lives nearby, someone delivers a pack of lessons to Mom most weeks. We are all very grateful for this outlet for Mom’s service at this point in her life. It helps keep her going and she talks about how much she has learned about prison life—and the Bible—through the questions they ask and the stories they share. She prays regularly for many of the students, and they express gratitude for her help.   

I hope you can find the opportunities that fit you in retirement or any age. It’s best to start young because of how it opens your eyes to acute needs and the life experiences of other people.

What volunteer work would you like to try that you have not done yet?

What was your best volunteering experience ever?

Were there volunteer opportunities that didn’t pan out as expected?

For more information on SOOP, go to mennonitemission.net/Serve/soop or call 866-866-2872 (toll-free); or gospelechoes.com or call 574- 533-0221.

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Another Way is a column by Melodie Davis, in syndication since 1987. She is the author of nine books. Another Way columns are posted at FindingHarmonyBlog.com a week after newspaper publication.