National Senior Corp Week

CSS will held a press conference and reception today to kick-off National Senior Corp Week, “Making a Difference for Generations.” Mayor Wes Perry presented a proclamation on behalf of the City of Midland. CSS is proud to be one of the only programs in the state of TX that sponsors all three Senior Corp Programs: Retired Senior Volunteer Program, Foster Grandparent Program and the Senior Companion Program. On the National level, for more then four decades, the three Senior Corps programs—have engaged age 55-plus volunteers in service to meet critical needs. Last year, nearly 500,000 Senior Corps volunteers provided 98 million hours of service estimated to be worth more than $2 billion. The first ever Senior Corps Week – taking place Sept. 20-24, 2010 -- celebrates the extraordinary commitment and contribution made by Senior Corps volunteers and recognizes their critical impact on addressing tough challenges in our nation.

In Midland, TX alone more then 1,000 Senior Corp volunteers served more then 240,000 hours of service last year. Senior Corps members help students learn to read, mentor at-risk youth, provide health services, build homes for low-income families, and help nonprofits recruit more volunteers to better achieve their mission, just to name a few. Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) places more then 800 55 and older seniors in more then 85 volunteer stations in Midland. They do everything from driving Meals-on-Wheels, Working at Habitat for Humanity, volunteering at the hospital, museums, etc…There are more then 60 grandparents and 40 senior companions in Midland. These two programs benefit active, low-income seniors, at-risk children and homebound seniors. Foster Grandparents provide one-on-one tutoring, mentoring and serve as role models. A performance survey found that 81% of children served by Foster Grandparents demonstrated improvements in academic performance! Senior Companions enables frail and elderly adults to live independently in their own homes by transporting them to medical appointments, shopping for groceries, helping with bills and paperwork, and offering respite care.

Senior Corps Week recognizes that service by older Americans benefits everyone – volunteers, our communities, and our nation: it helps volunteers by keeping them active, healthy, and engaged; it helps our communities to have millions more skilled volunteers; and it helps our nation by saving taxpayer dollars and reducing healthcare costs and strengthening our democracy.