Living

Too busy to get old

Baby boomers and others of retirement age are finding new life as volunteers in a world of possibilities.

By SUSAN LADIKA
Published November 28, 2006

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Lita Swindle helps build a nursing home in Colombia. She has visited six times to participate in church missions.
	[Special to the Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Stowers family] Dan Stowers, 60, a team leader for Habitat for Humanity's Global Village program, has volunteered his services in 18 countries.

When Dan Stowers retired as chief federal probation officer for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, he wasn't ready to step back from the hustle and bustle of working life. "I was basically a Type-A executive," Stowers said. "I enjoy having things up in the air." He has certainly found that, traveling the world as a team leader with Habitat for Humanity's Global Village program. In the decade since his retirement, the 60-year-old has worked in 18 countries as part of Habitat for Humanity's international programs. Most recently, he led a trip in September to Comanesti, Romania, to rebuild flood-damaged homes. "I really caught the infectious 'Habitat-itis,' " Stowers said with a laugh. He's hardly alone.

Many happy returns

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly one-third of the nation's 45- to 64-year-olds volunteered in 2005, as did about 25 percent of those 65 and older.

This giving of one's time and energy typically is a two-way street. People who are altruistic and volunteer their time and talents tend to be "more in control of their life, happy, upbeat and socially integrated," according to Elizabeth Midlarsky, a professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

She said their efforts to aid others helps them "move away from concentrating on their own ills."

Those who volunteer often develop increased self-esteem and learn new skills that further enhance their self-confidence, Midlarsky said.

That fits the profile for Stowers, a Tampa Palms resident, who now leads three international trips each year, traveling to such destinations as Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Kyrgyzstan and Ethiopia.

He's a poster child for folks who want to devote a portion of their lives to service for others.

"All you need is a big heart, a sound mind and a willingness to get sweaty and dirty," Stowers said.

Primping's not enough

Dolores Paterno, 65, knows that feeling. But she says too many people her age are solely focused on retaining a youthful appearance.

"You need to do more than look beautiful," said the St. Petersburg resident, who joined the Peace Corps in 1999 and spent two years in Paraguay. Then in August, the mother of four started studying in the nursing program at St. Petersburg College.

Paterno had launched a wigs and hairpiece business while in her 20s in New York City, then later started a business in Atlanta screening nannies. She used that experience to work on business development projects with the Peace Corps, such as helping teach residents in J. Augusto Saldivar, a village in Paraguay, about organic farming and then setting up a business growing and selling the produce.

She also helped build the village's first high school - and organized its parent-teacher association.

During the construction she did everything from digging post holes with the men to organizing a fundraising fiesta with the women.

"I didn't do anything for them," Paterno emphasized. "I did it with them."

A president's legacy

Paterno says part of her drive comes from President John F. Kennedy's oft-quoted line: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

"After all those years in business, that thought never went away," Paterno said.

However, a survey by the public-private Corporation for National & Community Service found that Florida lags behind much of the country when it comes to the percentage of older folks who volunteer.

From 2003 to 2005, about 27 percent of Florida's baby boomers volunteered, ranking it 47th in the nation. Utah topped the list, at slightly more than 50 percent.

Among those 65 and older, Florida fared slightly better, ranking 38th. In Florida, almost 23 percent of residents in that age group volunteered. Again, Utah ranked best, at almost 52 percent.

The Peace Corps is one organization that is specifically targeting volunteers in these age groups, trying to get around the stereotype that all Peace Corps workers are 20-somethings.

In reality, about 6 percent of the 7,800 Corps volunteers are at least age 50, and the oldest volunteer currently serving is 79, said spokesman Nathan Arnold.

With their business and life experience, older volunteers are particularly successful in the fields of business development, health care, education and agriculture, Arnold said from his office in Washington.

The agency essentially is looking for people "with real know-how, to teach business skills." Or the volunteers may be placed at universities, so the Peace Corps looks for those "with advanced degrees or a lot of real-world experience."

Volunteers spend two years in the field, and many prefer posts in places like the Caribbean and Eastern Europe, which are more developed and have more advanced facilities than remote African locations, Arnold said. Older volunteers also typically opt for countries with better medical care.

One difficulty for older volunteers often involves learning the local language. So the Corps puts them in English-speaking countries such as Jamaica or offers them more intensive language instruction.

The agency also notes that volunteers receive free medical and dental coverage, and the stipend they receive isn't large enough to affect Social Security benefits.

George Armitage, a 79-year-old from Temple Terrace, laughs when he recalls that he had $900 remaining when he returned from two years in Bulgaria, in 2002.

Each month he received about $150 in the form of a debit card, which he used to pay expenses.

Armitage had been a real estate broker and had a grocery store in Pinellas County. But while in Bulgaria, he worked in a lease-to-own program that provided Bulgarians equipment to run their businesses.

Armitage said his age was not a drawback: "It got me more respect," he recalled.

And among the younger Peace Corps volunteers, they "didn't look at me and say, 'You're old, you can't do it.' "

Learning and growing

That is a lesson that the volunteer agencies need to embrace: Do not marginalize older workers. In a study she conducted, Columbia's Midlarsky found that organizations were quick to embrace offers of help from those in their 30s but rebuffed those who said they were in their 80s.

That attitude never surfaced for Sidney and Lita Swindle of Tampa on their many church mission trips to Colombia.

"Younger people don't have the experience we have," Lita Swindle says. "We can say, 'You need to do it this way,' and they pay attention because they have respect for older people."

The Swindles, who are now both 71, are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian congregation. They first visited Colombia in 1975. Lita has been back five times, while Sidney, a retired dentist, has been back four times.

"When we talk about Colombia, everyone is always interested in guerrilla activity," he said. "But we've never seen any of it."

On one trip the Swindles repaired earthquake damage, but more recently they've been in Cali, constructing a nursing home.

"It's really just manual labor," Sidney Swindle said. "You have to take it a little easier than you did when you were a little younger."

Whereas Sidney developed many of his construction skills while growing up on a farm, Lita has learned on their trips to cut and bend rebar, to plaster and to make crafts with local women.

Indeed, for many of the volunteer opportunities available, prior experience isn't a requirement.

Habitat for Humanity urges people to join in, regardless of their skill level, says David Minich, director of the Global Village program at the organization's Americus, Ga., headquarters.

"You initially set out thinking how much you can help, how much you have to offer," Minich said. "You come home realizing how much you've received and have grown spiritually and emotionally. You get back far more than you ever gave."

Susan Ladika is a freelance writer living in Tampa.

GETTING STARTED

So you want to volunteer?

Wendy Spencer, head of the Governor's Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, says people can best connect through local volunteer centers.

- Call the center and say, "Here's what I can do (i.e. teaching, business skills, etc.) or here's what I'd like to do. What do you suggest?"

- The staff will ask about who or what the new volunteer would like to work with, such as the elderly or environmental groups. They also will ask if there is something new the person would like to explore.

- If the volunteer has no preferences, the center is likely to tell the caller what its most pressing needs are.

 

[Last modified November 28, 2006, 06:59:01]

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