Volunteer Uses BusinessSkills To Help Older Adults (NAPSA)—With a background in business, baby boomer Brenda Granger was interested in learning more about her community and human services. She also wanted to makelife better for older adults in her community. A friend told her about Maintaining Active Citizens (MAC, Inc.), an Area Agency on Aging on Maryland’s eastern shore. It had so manypleas for assistance from older adults that its staff members couldn’t keep up. So Granger, working with the agency’s Special Projects Director, spearheaded a project to support overloaded staff. Now she is forming teams of volunteers that will help older adults and caregivers learn about and apply for home care, financial help and other retirement age but still want to use their talents and build their skills while helping others. A self-directed volunteer team can be the answer. Granger served in ways different from that of a traditional vol- Granger learned how to start this project by attending the lar projects nationwide and wrote a strategic plan. Then, she created materials to recruit volunteers: job descriptions, brochures and more. Soon, she will train and help lead the new recruits. from the Aging Network’s Volunteer Collaborative. Do you have special skills you’d like to use to help older adults? services. unteer. First, she researched simi- Every day, 10,000 people reach PowerUP! Training Institute, new Learn more at www.PowerUPVol unteers.org.
