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Senior Citizen Volunteers
Senior Corps Foster Grandparent Honored for 27 Year
Service
Senior Corps volunteers receive national awards for
outstanding service
May 30, 2006- Foster Grandparent Ora Rakestraw of
Sacramento received a Gold Honoree Mentor Award this month in
recognition of her 27 years of service in the Senior Corps. As a mentor
to third-graders, she works with those who are reading at the lowest
levels. Her success is marked by her students reading scores, which
increased 10 percentile points in 2004.
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Spirit
of Service Awards
Five
Honored for Senior Corps Volunteer Work
Aug. 22, 2005 Five senior citizens were honored with
Spirit of Service by the Corporation for National and Community Service as
outstanding national service participants. All are volunteers with Senior
Corps programs. Helen Karr, for example, graduated law school
on her 64th birthday and began volunteering with the San Mateo Council on
Aging and the local Senior Corps RSVP program to fight elder abuse.
Read more...
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on
Senior Volunteers |
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The MetLife Foundation and the National Association
of Area Agencies on Aging recently presented several Senior Corps
volunteers with 2006 Older Volunteers Enrich America Awards.
In addition to Rakestraw, other Senior Corps
volunteers were named as silver honorees, including:
● RSVP volunteer Margarine Beaman of Austin,
Texas, has volunteered tirelessly on behalf of the visually
impaired, disadvantaged children, and the elderly. Among her most
notable accomplishments was leading a project that ultimately led to the
first Braille instructions for ATM machines and mall directories in the
world.
● Foster Grandparent Elaine Savage of Ogilvie,
Minn., a retired teacher, brings her rich experience into
second-grade classrooms 30 hours a week. She has developed innovative
approaches to help students who are struggling, and devotes time and
effort into preparing quality materials and lessons.
● RSVP volunteer Judi Barbour of Penn Valley,
Calif., took charge of a project focused on outreach to older adults
facing the risk of becoming homebound and isolated. She recruited dozens
of volunteers and works with local food banks to provide groceries for
the seniors.
● RSVP volunteer Nancy Gaden of Jamestown, N.Y., is known as the
Bingle Bangle Lady, because she takes rhythm instruments to adult day
care centers, nursing homes, homes for the developmentally disabled, and
other locations. She accompanies the individuals on the piano, playing
their favorite songs and encouraging them to shake their instruments or
tap their toes to the music.
● Senior Companions Moisey and Sofiya Sandler of Denver
transport clients to medical appointments, grocery stores, and human
service agencies. They have recruited a number of other volunteers and,
as Russian immigrants and former professors at the University of Moscow,
volunteered as translators during the Summit of the 8 in Denver in 1998,
assisting the Russian delegation.
This is the fourth year that the National
Association of Area Agencies on Aging has administered the Older
Volunteers Enrich America Awards for the MetLife Foundation. Several
Senior Corps members have been among the recipients each year. People
age 55 and over have tremendous skills and experience that can be put to
use to strengthen their communities, said Tess Scannell, director of
Senior Corps. "We encourage anyone over age 55 to log onto
www.seniorcorps.gov
to find a local volunteer opportunity. It's easier than ever to get
involved, and your community and country need you.
Senior Corps, a program of the Corporation for
National and Community Service, taps the experience, skills, and talents
of more than a half a million older Americans to meet community needs.
> Foster Grandparents serve one-on-one as
tutors and mentors to young people with special needs.
> Senior Companions help homebound seniors and other adults
maintain independence in their own homes; and
> RSVP volunteers conduct safety patrols for local police
departments, participate in environmental projects, provide intensive
educational services to children and adults, and respond to national
disasters, among other activities.
Together with USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation
for National and Community Service is working to build a culture of
citizenship, service, and responsibility in America. The Corporations
other programs include AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America. For
further information, visit
www.nationalservice.gov.
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