RSVP In Anne Arundel County

By Peggy Morgan, RSVP Director

The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program known as RSVP is a vital part of the Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities. Our county's RSVP is one of over 700 throughout the United States. You will find RSVPs in our largest cities, small communities, and rural settings but they all have the same purpose: to help adults age 55 and older put their acquired experience and skills to use by volunteering in our communities, where they can make a positive impact. The only requirements for becoming part of RSVP are that you be 55 or older and that you have a desire to give your most precious gift to your community—your time.

In Anne Arundel County, RSVP has over 400 volunteers at over 60 different locations making a difference in their communities. The ages of our volunteers range from 55 to an active 92. RSVP volunteers are always placed in public or private non-profit agencies and organizations. In one year, RSVP volunteers give 70,000 hours to Anne Arundel County. If those hours were compared to one person's full time employment, they would amount to over 30 years of time.

RSVP volunteers are as diverse as the ways in which they serve. Some volunteers may tutor and mentor children in our schools, others offer administrative or reserve officer support to our county police. Others drive and deliver fresh foods between grocers and food pantries. You'll find others offering travelers' assistance to visitors at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, guiding tours and assisting at Londontown House and Gardens, or working at our Maryland Law Library.

Still other volunteers prefer to direct their energies toward helping other seniors, perhaps by placing daily telephone calls to county residents who may be frail and isolated. Many assist with the daily preparation and serving of hot noontime meals as part of the Nutrition Program of the Department of Aging and Disabilities. During tax time, RSVP volunteers provide free income tax preparation at the seven senior centers through the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Program. With the Friendly Visitor Program, others provide weekly visitation to isolated seniors.

To participate in these and other opportunities with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is to remain vitally engaged in the life of the community. Getting involved is the key. RSVP members agree that they get back even more than they give, often discovering the experience of a lifetime. If you want to keep active in ways that make a difference for those in need, RSVP can help. In other words, remember when you thought you could change the world? You still can—volunteer.

To learn more about the RSVP Program, call the Department of Aging and Disabilities at 410-222-4464 and ask for RSVP. Do it today!

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