Posted 10/12/2022By Susan Thompson Lake Panorama TimesIt’s been just over a year since an organization that helps coordinate volunteer opportunities expanded into Guthrie County. The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is one of the largest volunteer networks in the nation for people 55 and older.
Key funding for the program comes from a federal grant through AmeriCorps Seniors. A local sponsoring entity is needed, and the sponsor for Guthrie County is Boone County Hospital. RSVP in Boone County began in 1987. Services were expanded into Greene County in 2004 and into Guthrie County in July 2021.
Mary Porter of Guthrie Center is the Guthrie County coordinator for the program that helps senior volunteers find opportunities to help others locally, while also taking requests from those in need of assistance. The Lakeside Village, located at 2067 Highway 4, north of Panora, provides in-kind office space on the facility’s fourth floor.
“For 30-plus years, I had worked full time as a ventriloquist with Suzi Q and had no intention of changing,” Porter says. “Then COVID hit, and for 18 months the only programming we did was by Zoom. While on our way to a wedding in Washington state in May of 2021, I received an unexpected call asking if I would be interested in a job. I think I surprised both my husband and myself when I said I would be interested in hearing about it.”
By the time Porter got back to Iowa, she had an appointment with Michele Hull of Boone, the RSVP 55+ Volunteer Program director. Hull has been with the program since 1997 and had written the grant request that allowed the program to expand into Guthrie County.
“I got excited about this opportunity because I knew I was going to get to help seniors,” Porter says.
RSVP administers several free programs. One is Adult Caregiver Respite, which matches volunteers with full-time caregivers of an adult family member or friend who cannot be left alone.
Tammy Huffman of Guthrie Center has been a full-time caregiver for her mother-in-law for the past five years. A friend of hers texted her a picture of an RSVP poster and suggested she might be able to get some help. Huffman calls the program and its volunteers a godsend.
“I have three different volunteers, all wonderful ladies, who come in two to three times each week, for two to six hours at a time,” she says. “I try to fit in as many errands as I can while I have someone here. If I have to be gone during mealtime, I put food out they can offer to her. They also can remind her to take her medicines.”
Huffman has some health issues that recently have required more trips to the doctor for her. Plans are being made to transition her mother-in-law into a nursing home, so she can focus on her own recovery.
“I urge others who need help to check on the RSVP program. Mary Porter and the volunteers all go above and beyond the call of duty,” she says.
Porter recently was approached by another full-time caregiver, who had been hesitant to sign up for the respite program because she felt she would be letting her loved one down.
“She walked up to me at a store with a big smile on her face and said, ‘Today is my free day, yesterday was rough, and I was never so happy to see my volunteer walk in this morning.’ I walked to my car and told my husband, with tears in my eyes, this is why I love my job — we are helping people,” she says.
Teresa Mowrer, who lives south of Guthrie Center, has been a volunteer in the In-Home Visitation program since last February. The woman she had been visiting recently moved, and she is waiting for another match.
“I tried to go weekly, usually for an hour-and-a-half. I would bring some newspapers, sometimes a couple of magazines and a dessert,” Mowrer says. “We mostly would just sit and talk.”
The daughter of the woman Mowrer was visiting heard about the in-home visitation program and thought it would be good for her mom. She said it gave her some peace of mind knowing someone was checking on her.
“I didn’t realize until her daughter told me that my visits were something her mother looked forward to, although she always thanked me when I left,” Mowrer says. “I have enjoyed volunteering in this way, and would encourage others to try it.”
Another opportunity for volunteers is the Phone Friends program.
“About five years ago when my husband passed away, a friend started calling me every Monday,” says Wilda Oreweiler. “It has meant so much to me. I wanted to help someone else by making regular phone calls to them.”
Porter says both the in-home visitation and phone friend programs provide friendship and companionship for older adults who are socially isolated, who may be lonely, or just want good conversation. Recipients can participate in either program or both.
Another program that so far has volunteers but no participants in Guthrie County is the Grocery Assistance-shopping Program (GAP). GAP volunteers shop for groceries in this program that is available to disabled adults of any age and individuals 60 and older who may have difficulty getting groceries from the store to the kitchen. Participation may be short term, such as during a temporary illness or recuperation period, or long term.
Additional programs are available through partnerships. This summer, Porter matched Paula Wachholtz with Lakeside Village as a volunteer in the facility’s memory care garden.
“I retired in 2020 after 35 years as a pediatric physical therapist in the Papillion La Vista Schools. I moved to Lake Panorama fulltime and was looking for a way to get more involved in my new community,” Wachholtz says. “I learned about RSVP when I was living at Lakeside Village for three months during my home renovation. I fell in love with the Lakeside residents and was looking for a way to stay connected to them.
“So far the memory garden is my primary project,” she says. “I trim hedges, do a lot of weeding and clean up. I have loved my interactions with the Lakeside staff and the patients in the memory care unit as they come out to enjoy the day when I am there working.”
Wachholtz was the recipient of one of the $500 gifts from the Guthrie County State Bank’s May Day Acts of Kindness program. She plans to use the money for mulch and perhaps new cushions and umbrellas for the benches and tables in the garden.
Another RSVP partnership is with Elderbridge, the area agency on aging for Guthrie County. In October, Wachholtz got involved in the Elderbridge Errand Buddy program, which matches a volunteer with a senior who needs transportation to appointments or other places. Now Waccholtz is an errand buddy for a Panora resident.
Porter says the goal is to have 85 active volunteers within three years. In the first year, 14 volunteers signed up, with many calls coming in as soon as the program was publicized. With one year under her belt, Porter now is hoping to recruit additional volunteers, plus find more people who are interested in the services provided.
“The other side of this story is I need recipients to match with those interested in volunteering. It has been exciting for me as I attend a match meeting where the volunteer is introduced to the participant to find out what they have in common,” she says. “Caregivers benefit from some guilt-free time to rest, go to appointments, shop, attend a grandchild’s activities. Participants benefit from in-home or phone visits that helps keep them from getting lonely.”
Porter says volunteers benefit by staying active, meeting new people, contributing to the community, and developing new skills and knowledge. “Although this is a nationwide program and free to participants, I like to think of it as that ‘Iowa nice’ showing through with people helping people,” she says.
RSVP volunteers choose how, where and how often they want to serve. “Becoming a volunteer is as simple as visiting about your interests and the volunteer opportunities, fill out an enrollment form, and I connect you to where you will volunteer,” she says.
To learn more about how to get involved by volunteering or receiving services, contact Porter at 641-431-0132 or
rsvpguthrieco@gmail.com.