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August 2005 Vol. 24. No. 8
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
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Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
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RSVP Volunteers Share Their Lives Students and elders correspond for a school year, then meet by June Crym
More than 20 years ago Retired and Senior Volunteer Program staff member Genevieve Brink returned from a volunteering workshop with a seed of an idea - to start a Pen Pal program. It seemed like a natural for the Share Program with its intergenerational roots. Share volunteers work in the schools, giving presentations to classes about their travels and life experiences. Others work as tutors one-on-one with school children, listening to them read or helping with math and other subjects. The seed began to grow. In 1984 Morris School served as the test. Would children really want to write letters to seniors they didn't know? Would seniors want to write to little kids? The response was so great from students, teachers and senior volunteers that eventually Placement Coordinator Gail Gai recruited a volunteer Pen Pal coordinator to route all those letters back and forth between their readers. In 1987 Helen Scholber became the first RSVP Share Pen Pal coordinator at Morris School. Carolyn Eisner joined her the next year. Dorothy Kluck brought the Pen Pal Program to Agnes Johnson School in Southern Humboldt. There have been many more coordinators over the years as the program expanded to more schools. More than 100 classes later, the program thrives. Making it work involves a lot of behind-the-scenes planning. In September, a questionnaire is sent out to seniors and to participating classes. Pen Pal coordinators use the answers to these questionnaires to match fourth, fifth and sixth graders with RSVP volunteers to carry on a monthly correspondence. Some seniors want to write to girls, some to boys; for some, either is fine. There are rules: Writers must turn in their letters to the Pen Pal coordinator by the first of each month. No gifts are allowed. Carolyn Eisner says, "I load my first letter with a little about me and my family. Then I always add a lot of questions in the last paragraph. That gives them a chance to answer the questions and start their writing ability." Some students have a hard time reading seniors' handwriting. Carolyn said, "When we get their first letter - that is what determines whether we are going to write in longhand or print. We conform to the student. The fifth and sixth graders sometimes print their letters out on the computer. I always prefer their printing or writing over the computer printout. It's personal, and they put more effort into it." Carolyn added, "I would like to see something like this throughout the country. It helps children to become comfortable with people of all ages." If you would like to become an RSVP Pen Pal when school starts again in late summer, call the Volunteer Center of the Redwoods at 442-3711 or send an e-mail to volunteer@a1aa.org for more information. June Crym is a RSVP volunteer and writer for Volunteer Voices, the newsletter of Volunteer Center of the Redwoods and RSVP. |
Senior News
