New Home for the Retiree Connection

Can you imagine a world where almost half of the people you meet are retired or of retirement age?  Can you imagine how much talent, skill, and experience must exist in such a world?  Well, my fellow Yavapai County residents, you are living in this world!  According to the 2010 US Census, 41.1% of the total population of Yavapai County is aged 55+.  In Prescott, this percentage jumps to 48.7%!  We have enough experience and skill here to solve all the major world problems, I am sure!  The key now is to connect this talent with meaningful opportunities to do just that.  This recognition of our community’s vast amount of skill and expertise is the very reason that Yavapai College’s Division for Lifelong Learning created the Retiree Connection back in 2009.  As the AmeriCorps VISTA, Donna Bellina, finished her three-year term with the Retiree Connection this past fall, it was decided that Serve Yavapai would be a better home for it. Thus, Serve Yavapai is now the proud host of the Retiree Connection, and we have been doing a lot of work to revamp and streamline this much-needed project.

Most of you are probably wondering exactly what this Retiree Connection thing is all about.  Well, simply put it is a tool for our community to connect retired adults with meaningful volunteer opportunities in order to increase the quality of life of all Yavapai County residents.  This tool is taking the shape of a database that effortlessly matches volunteer interests, skills and availabilities with those of various volunteer positions available with area non-profits & service providers.  This database will allow Serve Yavapai to host an online volunteer sign-up page as well as an up-to-date online listing of available volunteer positions in our community.  Sound exciting?!?!  We think it is!

This exciting new database is still in the works, though we anticipate that it should be completely up and running by the end of February.  However, if you are interested in starting the process of applying, as a volunteer, you are invited to fill out our online Skills Survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RetireeConnection_Volunteer.  Likewise, if your organization is looking for talented and reliable volunteers, you are invited to fill out our online application form at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RetireeConnection_Organization. 

In addition, as part of our efforts to increase awareness of volunteerism in our community through our celebration of AmeriCorps Week, March 10-16, Serve Yavapai will be hosting an informational gathering on the Retiree Connection.  Be on the look out for further details about this and other AmeriCorps Week events!

If you have any questions about the Retiree Connection, or want to learn more about how to be involved, please send me an email to nlstanton@gmail.com or call me at 928-848-7870.  I look forward to serving with and for you to improve the quality of life in our community!