May 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 50

senior volunteers with
l.a. Department of
Recreation and Parks are
particularly eﬀective in
mentoring youth.

to stay relevant, wanting to connect socially, and wanting
to make an impact. " Olu Hawes, who has supervised the
program, emphasizes that the community benefits greatly from all of the labor the volunteers donate (in exchange
for a small transportation stipend). The retired volunteers,
for their part, " get fulfi llment and gratification from the
work-and their minds and bodies stay fresh. "
" You give back-you make a difference, " Hawes says.
" It's a big city, and there's a lot of isolation. " Connecting retired or semi-retired volunteers with stimulating nonprofit
assignments helps break down those walls of isolation.

the other side of lifelong learning
" Everyone here is interested in continuing to learn-and
curious about things, " says Susan Hoskins, director of the
Princeton Senior Resources Center (PSRC) in New Jersey. Indeed, surveys like the 2012 Consumer Federation
Southeast poll show 50 percent of those over 50 listing
access to lifelong learning opportunities as a deciding
factor in their choice of community. Hoskins notes that
both personal enrichment and the ability to upgrade the
career skills take high priority for older residents in her
area. The 400 participants in PSRC's Evergreen Forum, a
lifelong learning program with classrooms throughout the
community, study subjects as diverse as Shakespeare's
plays, Islam, and modern Chinese history.

Those teaching the courses are volunteers-fellow
PSRC participants who stepped forward to teach according to their interests and knowledge base. Similarly, those
volunteers who lead PSRC's " Engaged Retirement " classes
teach their peers financial planning, job search strategies,
and strategic volunteerism to prepare for encore careers.
Jody Jameson, senior center supervisor for the Town of
Cary (North Carolina) parks and recreation department,
describes a similar synergy-where Boomers' thirst for
learning unites with desires also to teach. And, like Princeton, Cary's proximity to outstanding universities attracts
many with an academic bent. However, Jameson is quick
to point out, over-55 volunteer teachers also fi ll important
roles in non-academic areas such as fitness instruction.
Jameson explains that she and her staff believe it is important to make fitness a class activity-to make it social
so that, unlike a solitary gym workout, participants know
they will be missed if they don't show up to exercise. In
Cary, where nearly 20 percent of the population is over
55, Jameson adds, " they really don't want to have 20-yearolds teaching senior fitness. "
Personal-interest classes also constitute an important
part of Cary's lifelong education offerings, says Jameson.
And when a participant at the center steps forward offering to teach a subject that flows from a personal passion, it
often ignites others' interest. " One woman started offering

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May 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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