Retire-To Volunteering

080 Chris Lovingood—Nations Ministry Center

Huge Challenges/Great Opportunities—Nations Ministry Center

They have fled persecution, violence, war, hunger, life in makeshift and overcrowded camps. As refugees coming to America, they have been given a chance for a new life. But now they face a new set of ordeals having to navigate the complexities of daily life in a new culture and do so with minimal language skills. Resettlement agencies assist newly arrived refugees for three to four months with many of their firsts, including obtaining housing, registering the children for school, getting the required health screening, figuring out how and where to buy food, and finding a job and the means to get to it. But the needs don't stop at the end of those few months. So the Nations Ministry Center steps up.

The Nations Ministry Center is specific to Nashville, Tennessee, which has a surprisingly large refugee population (8,000 to 10,000). Chris Lovingood, the Executive Director, characterizes the efforts of the organization as moving the families toward self-sufficiency. The goals are for the children, youth, and seniors as well as adults to integrate, assimilate, live meaningful lives, and contribute ultimately as citizens.

The Ministry Center works tirelessly to help everyone in the family improve their language skills and literacy. Volunteers especially assist middle school and elementary children after school with homework and in the summer with reading skills, as well as occasional field trips and other fun events. Other volunteers assist seniors with basic language and cultural literacy in their new home.

Chris and other staff, with some clerical assistance from volunteers, work to help the adults find better jobs, so the family can become more economically stable. In addition, they aid the adults with understanding the regulations and applying for their Green Card and for citizenship.

Volunteers know they are helping the families, but they also report being in awe, inspired by the resilience of those who have suffered much, especially the children, and also by their drive to learn in order to make a better life for themselves and their family. The refugees have faced and continue to deal with huge challenges, but they embrace them as great opportunities. That spirit is the gift they give back to the volunteers.

To find out more about Nations Ministry Center and its volunteer opportunities, visit nationsministrycenter.org or call 615-828-9664.

079 Bill Martin—Scouting

Preparing Better Grown Ups—Through Scouting

Laid off and laid up—two unexpected setbacks in life forced Bill Martin onto a different course, one that 18 years later he is still happily following as a volunteer in Scouting. His wife had been helping with their young sons' first two years in the program, but without a job, Bill suddenly had time and took his turn in leadership. Shortly after, he broke his leg in a biking accident. Always a hands-on doer, Bill could have simply quit, but he found himself enjoying Scouting, so he learned to delegate. As a result, a leadership team jelled for the troop.

By the time those temporary setbacks in Bill's life disappeared, he was hooked. Even after his own sons had grown, Bill continued with Scouting. He has participated in all three levels of volunteering with Scouting.

The first level is one that often attracts parents and grandparents—working with their own sons and daughters in a pack, troop, or crew as part of the leadership team. Participating with the Scouts, seeing the young persons, including their own children, experience wholesome camaraderie, grow in their skills, and mature in the values the program emphasizes often keeps the parents and grandparents volunteering beyond the tenure of their own family.

Some volunteers move into various district level Scouting opportunities. Bill is a Commissioner, assisting three troops. As such, he facilitates communication among the three as well as between the district and the troops. He also helps coordinate special events, including camporees and special ceremonies in which all three troops are together.

Bill also volunteers as a merit badge counselor, the third volunteer level. To earn the rank of Eagle Scout, the young persons must complete at least 21 badges. With more than 130 badges possible in Scouting, volunteers with some expertise in the various interests and skills are needed. Bill's specialties are model railroading and public speaking, for example.

While this level of engagement with the Scouts is relatively short, each volunteer must submit an application and go through the program's Youth Protection Training. In fact, keeping the young ones (kindergarten through age 20) safe from predators, abuse, and even cyber bullying is such a priority that all regular volunteers repeat the course every two years.

Scouting is designed to be a mostly outdoors experience. The youth do not have to be physically strong—Scouts learn to help everyone succeed. The active nature of the program is often the hook that brings in the boys, girls, parents, and grandparents. But the mission of Scouting is to instill the values and judgment that are defined in the Scout Oath and Law, preparing them to be responsible, participating citizens—better grown ups, who, like Bill, are also able to deal positively with life's setbacks.

For more information about Scouting in your area, visit scouting.org.

FYI: In 2019 watch for a name change. Boy Scouts of America will officially become Scouts BSA to celebrate the inclusion of girls!

078 Laura Valentine—Penuel Ridge

Away From It All—Penuel Ridge Retreat Center

Helicopters, sirens, traffic, deadlines, quotas, to-do lists, demanding devices—noise, noise, noise, pressure, pressure, pressure—the hallmarks of everyday life! Where is the escape, the safe space away from it all, a place to simply to be, to renew, to reconnect? Laura Valentine knows.

Laura is the executive director of Penuel Ridge, a small retreat center not far from bustling Nashville, yet nestled in 135 acres of quiet, where individuals and small groups (of no more than 18) can find themselves. Open 365 days a year, Penuel Ridge is a contemplative, interfaith center offering safe, sacred space to be still in a peaceful setting to listen to one's inner voice and for the voice of God (however persons define the divine).

People come to walk the land, to listen to the sounds of nature, to study sacred texts, to journal, to rest, to simply be away and at peace. The retreats are self-directed. Consequently, each experience is unique to the individuals or groups who come. Some may walk the meadow-sized labyrinth; others may seek out the benches by the two-acre lake where the wildlife comes to share a moment. Some will gather by the fire circle, perhaps to listen to and tell stories or simply to savor s'mores and watch the dancing flames.

Others, especially in the extremes of weather, will find sacred space in the welcoming retreat house with its floor-to-ceiling windows. Still others will dip deeply into The Well, a circular, covered structure constructed with straw bales and stucco that invites people to connect with one another and with nature. No where are there TVs or cell phones.

The numbers of individuals and groups who come add up—nearly 2,200 each year. With a staff of only Laura and a part-time assistant, volunteers are essential for making the center a place of gracious hospitality and for being good stewards of the pristine wilderness. Whatever volunteers have interest in is needed—assisting with the administrative tasks, greeting and orienting guests, preparing rooms for the overnight visitors, bush-hogging, mowing, gardening, trail building and maintenance, filling the bird feeders, even checking the light bulbs.

Once a month, volunteers can be part of a cook team and hosts for Penuel Ridge's retreat for homeless persons. The center has as part of its mission to be in solidarity with the poor.

Volunteers are needed and are only limited by their imagination in terms of what they can contribute. As a way of appreciating those people who give their time, Penuel Ridge gives them equal time for their own personal retreat. After all, everyone needs safe, peaceful, sacred space.

For more information, visit the website (penuelridge.org), email Laura ([email protected]), or call the landline (615-792-5936).

077 Wayne Schmidt—Special Olympics Coach

Scoring a Strike—Special Olympics

Looking for a way to connect with his son who was learning disabled, Wayne Schmidt remembered the fun he had bowling when he was growing up. He began teaching his son the sport. Soon the son was playing better than the father—and others were noticing. "Who's his coach?" they would ask.

With his answer Wayne's life scored a strike! Soon he was coaching Special Olympic athletes in bowling for his community. As his teaching skill developed and the program grew to more than 60 special bowlers, he began coaching new coaches. Now, as head bowling coach for Team Florida, Wayne coaches on the county, area, state, and national level. At all levels Wayne, a volunteer himself, relies on other volunteers to make the games go smoothly and to help the athletes progress.

In addition to volunteer coaches, other volunteers manage the logistics of getting 60 bowlers to the right place at the right time. Some volunteers participate with the athletes in Unified Partner contests that pair a volunteer with an athlete for the event, and still others cheer all the athletes on, reminding each one that they are Olympians!

The ultimate objective of Special Olympics Florida is to help people with intellectual disabilities participate as productive and respected members of society at large, by offering them a fair opportunity to develop and demonstrate their skills and talents through sports training and competition, and by increasing the public's awareness of their capabilities and needs. That's a goal that volunteers make possible—and everybody is a winner!

To find out more about Special Olympics in your state, visit specialolympics.org.

076 Jennifer Crews—Desert Sounds

Volunteers and Music—Making a Difference for Students

A 14 year old voluntarily helping a friend has inspired a movement that now reaches nearly 600 students each year and is growing. Jeremy and his friend played in the high school band until the friend's parents divorced and he no longer had a trumpet to play. In their school district, funds were tight and consequently parents had to provide most of the instruments. Jeremy convinced his friend to switch to a clarinet, which the school did have, but neither the school nor the friend's dad could afford to buy the reeds for the instrument. Jeremy found a job and dedicated his earnings to his friend so that he could play in the band. His selfless action became the Jeremy Project, which is now Desert Sounds.

The mission of Desert Sounds, based in the Phoenix area, is to provide children and youth access to music education. Research confirms what parents see when their children begin to play an instrument: Because music engages both sides of the brain, students do better in both math and reading. Jeremy knew this phenomenon first hand. He had struggled with a learning disability and did not read until he was in band in the eighth grade.

The organization, now ten years old, provides not only instruments to nearly 600 students but also works with volunteers to create and manage programming that gives students a sense of belonging, the opportunity to learn, and occasions to share their music. Musical Mentors gives one-on-one music lessons but goes a step further to create a mentoring relationship that helps students thrive in life as well as in band. The Mariachi Band goes out into the community to perform, to the delight of the hearers and the performers. The Electric Orchestra brings together technology and music, which appeals to particular students and consequently helps stem the dropout rate from traditional band in the vulnerable early teen years.

Like Jeremy, volunteers make all that possible. Musicians and non-musicians alike are crucial for not only working with the students but also for communicating to the community about the need and the organization. Volunteers also handle the administrative tasks that keep Desert Sounds on track for their stated goal of reaching 1,000 students each year!

To learn more, visit www.desertsounds.org.

075 Mary Katherine Rand—The Mary Parrish Center

From Surviving to Thriving—The Mary Parrish Center

When women and their children arrive at the Mary Parrish Center, they are survivors. Pummeled repeatedly by domestic violence and sexual abuse, wounded emotionally and physically, they have nevertheless found a place of shelter and hope. They have escaped. The beater has been beaten.

But now what? How do these women and their children move from merely surviving to truly thriving? They do so with the help of the Mary Parrish Center and its many volunteers.

Located in a 12-unit apartment building in Nashville, the Center provides rent-free housing for six women with children and for four women alone. One unit is the office and the other is the community gathering space. Being a "cluster site" gives the women the wrap-around services and supportive community that help them stabilize and begin to thrive.

Although those services include up to two years of housing rent free, the average stay is only one year, a testimony to both the strength and desire of the women and to the other services of the Mary Parrish Center, such as individualized case management, housing advocacy, budgeting, employment assistance, and therapy.

Additionally, volunteers share their skills, interests, and caring through art, crafts, cooking, event planning, teaching and playing games, and so on. These enrichment activities bring not only fun and new skills to the residents but also a sense of support for them to continue their journey on to thriving.

Volunteers who have interest in making a difference in the lives of these survivors need only contact the center for a personal conversation with Mary Katherine Rand, the volunteer coordinator. Her focus is on matching the strengths of the individual (or group) with what the residents would find helpful or enjoyable. All ideas are welcome.

When the survivors arrive, they soon learn the story of the ginko-leaf logo of the Mary Parrish Center. The beautiful ginko tree grows upright, reaching for the sky. Also a survivor, the ginko is able to withstand the harshest weather extremes and even a nuclear blast and keep on growing. This gift of nature is a symbol of hope for the women to know that they too can survive and indeed thrive.

To talk with Mary Katherine Rand, the volunteer coordinator, call 615-256-5959 or email [email protected]. See more Center details at www.maryparrish.org.

075 Lee Johnson—The American Red Cross

Never Resting, Always Ready—The Red Cross

When the weather forecast shows the beginning of a hurricane, the whole nation waits. Except the Red Cross. Everyone there is in high gear, preparing. Shelters to line up, food to arrange for, supplies to transport. Relief teams, mental health workers, technology whizzes—volunteers are readying to go, to be the first on the scene—and the last to leave.

Lee Johnson, who retired from his role as general manager of a large regional transit district, leads the Disaster Assessment Team, first in to provide crucial data to the Red Cross system to enable the organization to scale up (or down) to match the need.

Additionally, for Hurricane Harvey Lee headed up the technology team, using satellite to re-establish the communication systems that are so critical for coordinating the efforts of the Red Cross volunteers. Deployed teams usually commit for a two-week period and are then relieved by other Red Cross volunteers as needs change.

Unlike hurricanes, most disasters strike suddenly. Some encompass a wide area and many people. Some, like a house fire, are localized but just as devastating to the family and their friends. So the Red Cross never rests, never stops preparing.

In the in-between times, Lee checks the fleet of Red Cross vehicles to make sure they are all ready to go. He also instructs training courses for volunteers.

With so much to do to help people and communities in their times of greatest need, volunteers can readily find their niche, one that suits their skills, interests, and time available. Volunteers also feel the support of the organization through effective training, team-building social events, and being in action with other seasoned team members. Volunteers serve where and how long they can. Every volunteer is valued.

In turn, Lee values the Red Cross. He's seen it in action; he's been in the action, making a difference. He says, "I worked to live. Now I live to serve." And at the Red Cross, he finds people like himself who also live to serve.

For more about volunteer opportunities at the Red Cross chapter in your area, simply search on Red Cross.

073 Michelle Colee–Be Your Haven

No One Dies Alone, Thanks to Volunteers—Be Your Haven

The diagnosis is terminal. Efforts switch from cure to comfort. It's time for hospice care. Often in the initial conversations with hospice staff, new patients will express their fears. Not wanting to die alone is a one of their biggest concerns.

Be Your Haven, a hospice-care provider in 18 counties of Florida, has set up a program as part of their services called, No One Dies Alone, to provide volunteers to be with patients 24/7 during their last five to ten days. Volunteers may simply be a quiet presence, hold the patient's hand, read aloud, sing softly, or speak reassuring words from time to time as they stay for their four-hour vigil. Volunteers don't have to worry that they are doing the "right" thing to comfort the patient because during those initial meetings, staff has asked patients what they would desire and find soothing.

Michelle Colee, the volunteer coordinator, also provides volunteers with both training and support. Volunteers have a mentor to be with them for their first few times until they indicate they are ready to be on their own with patients. Most of the volunteers in the Florida program are between 60 and 90 years old, bringing with them a lifetime of understanding and practicing compassion. They return again and again, telling Michelle that they feel they are blessed by the experience.

Other volunteers bring their computer and organizational skills, assisting with the record keeping. Some go out into the community to speak to groups, helping them understand the role of hospice care and the importance of planning related to end-of-life issues. Still other volunteers work in the Haven Attic Stores, taking in donations and reselling them to raise funds for Be Your Haven's services.

"When health becomes a challenge, we will be your haven" is the message of the organization, but it comes alive through caring volunteers whose only "pay" is the blessing they receive. For more about Be Your Haven or the No One Dies Alone program, visit beyourhaven.org. Search the internet for hospice organizations in your local area.

072 Bruce Kerber—Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Digging Into the Past, Creating the Future—Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

After 38 years of helping people grow through his career as a clinical social worker, Bruce Kerber wanted something different in retirement. He found his niche by looking to his past.

Bruce remembered playing on his Uncle Tony's farm as a child. During his college years Bruce had worked for his dad in the family's nursery business. He also did some research projects as part of his university curriculum. Throughout his professional life, Bruce enjoyed his own gardens and especially his orchid collection.

Looking to his past directed him to his future—right back to his Uncle Tony's farm, which had been purchased by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Now, as a volunteer with the Arboretum, Bruce assists with the research needed for returning the previously cleared and cultivated farm to its natural state of prairie and forest. One of the issues under study is how to deal with the imported—and invasive—European buckthorn tree that chokes out native plants.

As a part of his volunteer contribution, Bruce plants native shrubs and monitors their growth, gathering necessary data for the project. In addition to that work, he donated a large portion of his extensive orchid collection to the Arboretum and volunteers one morning a week there to assist in the care of "his plants" and the rest of the collection.

Getting out to do the heavy work of planting and tramping through the farm to monitor the progress of the new plants has been good for Bruce too. He credits his volunteer work with challenging him to keep up physically.

He's looking forward to the near future when Uncle Tony's farm—restored to its native splendor—will be open to the public to enjoy. When that happens, Bruce will see not only the Arboretum's goal come to fruition but also the fruits of his own life-long love of helping people and plants grow to their full potential.

071 Kim Carrier—People and Pets Together

Not Just Another Mouth to Feed—People and Pets Together

Have you ever been sick or emotionally down and had your pet climb up next to you, loving you completely and easing your distress? Kim Carrier attributes that unconditional love from her two dogs with helping her heal. They were her "saving grace" in very difficult time.

Kim also recognized that others were not so fortunate. Job loss and medical crises, especially, can so easily push a family to the brink financially. In desperate times too many people feel they have no option but to give up their pets in order to feed their family. Yet living with pets can have such positive effects in times of instability. Especially for children, their animals provide emotional support and actual health benefits.

In 2009, in the midst of the adversity of the Great Recession, Kim founded People and Pets Together (PPT) to give families an alternative to having to surrender their pets. Through both the organization's own pet food "shelf" and the dedicated pet food shelves in partner pantries that provide food for people, nearly 8,000 pounds of pet food each month enables families to keep their pets. The program serves two very large, low-income neighborhoods in the Minneapolis area.

Volunteers—130 of them—plus donors, make the preventions possible. Some volunteers pick up the pet-food donations from bins placed in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul communities and from businesses that contribute and take them to the various distribution sites. Other volunteers, working at the PPT site, assist the guest shoppers in ways that maintain their dignity as well as fulfill the need. Veterinarian students from the University of Minnesota volunteer their time to run regular, subsidized vaccination clinics, which are also sponsored by PPT. Volunteer retention is high—people and pets do go together!

As someone immersed in this issue, Kim sees this model of helping families keep their pets as more cost effective to communities than building, staffing, and maintaining animal shelters. Families who lose a beloved pet to a rescue or shelter lose much more than just another mouth to feed.

Kim admits she had struggled in the past with the question of who deserves help. However, she came to the conviction that the answer is everybody. Everybody deserves love—love of a pet and love from volunteers committed to keeping people and pets together. In that knowledge and in her action Kim finds joy!

For more information, visit peopleandpetstogether.org or view their Facebook page.

Local food pantries are often prohibited by charter from spending any funds to supply pet food, but many would be willing to accept donations and stock a shelf within their pantry. Consider talking with food pantries in your area about the possibility.