Retired Senior Volunteer Program

Retired Senior Volunteers are individuals over 55 years of age serving their communities on identified community needs.

RSVP Volunteers are active and involved:

• Responding to the needs of communities throughout Rockingham, Strafford, and Belknap counties
• Serving youth, teens, persons living with disabilities and seniors.
• Volunteering in schools, nutrition sites, cultural venues, medical facilities, municipalities and non-profits.
• Part of the difference for so many lives.

Service activities of volunteers include: reading with students or assisting teachers in the elementary schools; providing tours and information regarding the city’s cultural heritage; attending to the nutritional needs of the elderly/low income by assisting at nutrition meal sites and food pantries and distributing meals on wheels and surplus food commodities; offering socialization to the frail elderly in the nursing homes; and increasing the capacity of non-profits by providing clerical support.

Not only does RSVP help these agencies to increase their service capacity, it also provides opportunities for older adults to remain actively engaged in their communities.

Noting that the population of seniors in NH communities has steadily increased at a rate of 12.6% between 1990 and 2000 and that the population projections for this demographic are projected to increase between 50% and 90% by 2015, the service provided by RSVP helps to address the needs of the aging population. RSVP remains posed to continue to address both their needs and some of the needs of the local community by:

• Providing opportunities for seniors to remain active, have social interaction with others reducing the possibility of social isolation.
• Providing opportunities for seniors to utilize their skills and lifetime of experience for the benefit of others by engaging in meaningful volunteer activities.