Ramona Griego, an 81-year-old retiree, had recently lost her husband and, according to the AARP, her diabetes wasn’t getting any better. She soon developed depression and was looking for a way to improve her situation. After looking at different available options, Griego soon turned to volunteering.
With the help of the Corporation for National and Community Service, she got involved with her community after visiting a senior center and started helping people her own age stay active and engaged. She said, “The program has allowed me to enjoy my life as I age, and I feel important when I can help my clients with small things that allow them to remain in their homes.”
Volunteering truly gave Griego a new life. This is a common story for hundreds of thousands of elderly people. But this doesn’t mean that everyone knows how to get involved volunteering or the benefits of doing so. Before digging into that, let’s discuss how the breadth at which the elderly can volunteer.
Overall, the elderly makes up almost 25 percent of the volunteer population
Seniors Who Volunteer, by the Numbers
Millions of elderly people—those 65 and older—volunteer every year, but given this population is higher than 48 million (and projected to reach 80 million by 2050), there is plenty of room for growth here.
Between 2011 and 2015, the rate of the elderly population that volunteered has stayed about the same, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (The rate has dropped about 5 percent for those between 55 and 64.) Although it’d be great to see an increase in that rate, that still means that more than 11 million seniors volunteered at least once in 2015. Overall, the elderly makes up almost 25 percent of the volunteer population, and if you include the 55-64 demographic, it’s more than 35 percent.
According to the Corporation for National Community & Service, the most common forms of volunteering are:
- Collecting, serving, preparing, or distributing food
- Fundraising or selling items to raise money
- Engaging in general labor, like helping build homes or clean up parks
- Tutoring or teaching
- Mentoring the youth
- Collecting, making, or distributing clothing
Because of the rate at which they are more likely to be retired, elderly people simply have more time on their hands than almost every other age demographic that’s eligible to work. Despite this, they don’t have the highest percentage of the population who volunteer—that belongs to those aged 35 to 54 who are also at the height of their working days. So let’s figure out exactly why volunteering is so important.
This article was orginally posted on the website, Aging in Place and was submitted by:
Carolina Gerard
Outreach Intern
Aging in Place
