[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 1, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E386-E387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RETIRED SENIOR AND VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 1, 2011

  Ms. SCHWARTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the importance 
and necessity of senior care programs such as the Retired Senior and 
Volunteer Program (RSVP). Philadelphia's RSVP is based in the Jewish 
Community Center Klein Branch and currently enlists about 600 
volunteers. The program offers much-needed community services as well 
as an opportunity for seniors to volunteer their time. RSVP provides 
important volunteer services such as tutoring, food for Meals on Wheels 
and assistance with tax preparation. The following article from the 
Philadelphia Daily News illustrates the importance of programs like 
RSVP and the need for our continued support of their worthy 
accomplishments.

            [From the Philadelphia Daily News, Feb. 7, 2011]

              Seniors, Life's Calling You. Send Your RSVP

                           (By Stu Bykofsky)

       DON'T TRUST anyone under 30.
       Maybe reversing the infamous (and bigoted) catchphrase from 
     the '60s is overdoing it.
       But while many cultures, equating experience with 
     knowledge, revere elders, here in the U.S. of A. we lionize 
     ``youth'' (even while watching the reading and math scores of 
     our ``youth'' fall, like tokens into a fare box).
        Baby Boomers who cranked up the social-revolution line are 
     now in the Social Security line.
       In addition to the vast financial wealth that the Boomers 
     piled up, they (and their elders) also collected a warehouse 
     of wisdom, which some of them like to share.
       Motivated older adults--55 and up--form the backbone of 
     RSVP--the Retired Senior and Volunteer Program, a 40-year-old 
     national agency which in Philly operates from the Klein JCC, 
     in the Far Northeast.
       Klein has about 600 RSVP volunteers. Some are way above 55, 
     like Harold and Libby Yaffe, the 93-year-old married couple 
     who come in to serve lunches.
       ``The only way we can do what we do is through 
     volunteers,'' says Marcia Gross, RSVP project director, as 
     she shows me around the lowslung Klein JCC at 10100 Jamison 
     Ave. Gross is a woman of a certain age with no hard edges, a 
     smiling round face framed by light-brown hair.
       There are lots of underutilized or bored retirees, and a 
     lot of programs that need help but can't afford to hire 
     people, Gross says. You don't have to be Einstein to connect 
     two dots.
       When some people hear ``volunteer,'' for free, they hit the 
     exits. Better people see service to others as a benefit to 
     society--and to themselves.
       ``I have to have something to do in the morning and I love 
     every minute of it,'' says widowed Center City grandmother 
     Laurette Feltoon, who admits to ``65-plus.''
       For the last 13 years, she's been taking her master's in 
     psychology (she had a private practice in marital and 
     premarital counseling) and volunteering, every day, as a 
     mediator in Municipal Court's Dispute Resolution Program.
       The city and the warring parties get the benefit of her 
     decades of experience, while Feltoon has a place to go and a 
     mission to accomplish.
       Dots connected. Win-win. Volunteers go only to nonprofit 
     agencies, says Gross, ranging from the American Red Cross 
     (bloodmobile aides) to WHYY-TV (special events, begathons).
       Sure, there are expected needs for people who can do data 
     entry and fill clerical roles, make weekly visits to the 
     homebound, tutor students or prepare food for Meals on 
     Wheels.
       But there are less-conventional volunteer options, such as 
     tax preparation, historical research, ushering at local 
     theaters, guiding tours at Independence National Historical 
     Park or the Philadelphia Zoo, and providing immigration 
     assistance. For those better with their hands than their 
     mouths, RSVP

[[Page E387]]

     uses people to drive vans, walk dogs at the PSPCA, stock food 
     pantries, knit, garden and provide minor home repairs.
       If you don't know whether you have a useful skill, Gross 
     says, ``Come in and we may suggest something you hadn't 
     thought of.'' Anyone with computer literacy is needed, and 
     RSVP is looking for people to teach financial literacy.
       Retiring after 42 years working on the railroad, Norm 
     Feldman wanted a new challenge.
       The Tacony resident, a volunteer at the Clean Air Council 
     for 27 years, has become an expert in indoor air pollution 
     and radon. The octogenarian volunteers Wednesdays, and takes 
     emergency calls at home, goes out to talk to schools and 
     community groups on other days.
       He took some EPA training, but mostly learned on the job, 
     and is so much an expert that he gets calls from county 
     health departments. ``Even professional people have problems 
     and they can't get answers from the city, state or federal 
     government,'' Feldman says, because most law deals with 
     outside air. He's the man on the inside.
       After Sunny, his beloved wife of 51 years, died four years 
     ago, Ike Silverberg was depressed, even suicidal. He tried 
     some shrinks, but it didn't help. The 85-year-old still 
     misses Sunny like hell, but RSVP gave him a new life.
       Mondays and Fridays, mornings and afternoons, he's at the 
     Delaware Valley Veterans' Home, pushing a beverage cart, 
     making sure the vets are hydrated. He's happy doing it 
     because the vets are appreciative.
       His Tuesdays and Wednesdays are very different. He drives 
     from his Rhawnhurst home to Mayfair Elementary, where he sits 
     with eight first-graders at a round table. Everyone reads in 
     turn and Ike challenges them on spelling. The great-
     grandfather of seven loves kids, so this is a treat for him.
       Wednesdays the chatty former construction worker, salesman 
     and bagel-baker reads with third-graders at the JCC. All the 
     volunteering keeps him out of ``that house,'' as he refers to 
     his formerly happy, now lonely home.
       Getting out into the world is a benefit to volunteers, says 
     Gross. According to a poll, she says, the No. 1 reason people 
     give for not volunteering is: ``No one asks them.''
       RSVP is asking.

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