What are the benefits of serving in AmeriCorps as a senior?

Justin from our communications team, recently interviewed Roy, a senior from our Public Health team about How AmeriCorps can be beneficial to seniors. Here is a transcript of the interview.

Justin: When seniors retire, they sometimes have trouble finding something to fill their schedule and have a purpose outside the workforce. One way to fill that void is through either volunteering or joining a service program like AmeriCorps. I spoke to a current member, Roy, to find out what it's like to serve in AmeriCorps as a senior.

Justin: Tell me about what your career has looked like over the years.

Roy: Well my life is up to 70 years now and I retired about 5 years ago. Mostly, I did direct care and human services. I was an executive director for a social agency for 20 years in Norway, ME. I did a lot of advocacy for care workers, both in the Maine state legislature and on the federal level. I started my own home care business and I ended up in financial services after being super involved with politics for 10 or 12 years. When I got done working, I was happy to stop working full time and I went through a period of, you know, one figuring out how I was gonna fill up my time. And I knew about AmeriCorps because I had AmeriCorps people in my agency helping with starting mentoring programs for a bunch of years, and I like the cachet of it. I like the idea of kind of being associated with national service and getting a chance to be with a bunch of other people who feel the same way. So I signed up for AmeriCorps through Goodwill, and that brings me here today.

Justin: Looking back at the service you've done, what has been a highlight of your service?

Well, the highlight for me has been talking to people who are similarly minded thinking of trying to get involved with AmeriCorps and kind of helping them through the process, to actually get enrolled and start serving their terms. I do that quite frequently. Usually every week, I talk to at least 2-3 people. And each time I do that, everyone is different, sometimes people are really exciting to meet. Some people I'm kind of nudging along, but that process is probably the highlight of my service.

Justin: What would you say are some of the benefits of serving as a senior?

Roy: Well, I mean, there's a bunch of benefits. I mean, one is obviously keeping busy and doing something meaningful and that's a benefit of volunteering. It comes with medical care and other benefits, like a small amount of pay (called a living allowance), so that's a benefit. I mean, I certainly have to dip into my retirement savings much less because I'm doing this, and then the other benefit, which is kind of a big one is helping to save for my grandchildren's college expenses. So because I'm old, I'm, I'm able to set aside the education award, which is pretty sizable. It was $6,500 my first year and I think it's $6,700 this year. This being my second year, I can basically direct to one of my grandkids for their college expenses.

Justin: What does your typical day look like as a member?

Roy: Well, everyday is different, and I enjoy that very much. I start early because I like to start early. I could start late if I wanted to. I start my day with phone calls. Today, I'm in the office in Portland, and I live in Naples, so there's a fair amount of driving sometimes. Oftentimes, I go and speak to groups, I speak to alot of adult education groups. I do that in the evenings, not every week, but maybe every couple of weeks, and that's what my days are like. These days, being at work involves being on Zoom.

Justin: What's next for you once you wrap up your term?

Roy: I'm not sure, this is my second term. I really didn't think I would do a second term until the very end. I do wanna be busy. I do like volunteering. I've given up a number of volunteer things I did so I could do this. I'm really open at this point and I'm still healthy. As long as I'm healthy, I'll do something.

Justin: So what, what changed for you, what made you want to do a second term?

Roy: I felt like there was a lot of work undone that, you know, I could continue to have an impact as part of this program with more experience and stronger relationships with people that I was working with and I enjoyed it.

Justin: Great. Thanks for your time, Roy.