Event helps seniors find volunteer work

An annual “Community Opportunities Festival” in Greenfield helps seniors in Hampshire and Franklin counties find services they need, as well as opportunities to serve others.

The event, scheduled for Sept. 8 at Greenfield Community College, was established two years ago as a means of highlighting volunteer opportunities for the school’s students. But as the event has evolved, with 35 local service organizations participating last year, the volunteer possibilities have increased significantly, according to Pat Sicard, the volunteer coordinator for the Hampshire Council of Governments.

The Hampshire Council of Governments is the sponsor of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in Franklin and Hampshire counties. Sicard said that RSVP partners with 70 nonprofits and schools in the region and has helped find volunteer jobs for more than 670 people who are age 55 and older. At last year’s Community Opportunities Festival, many seniors were able to sign up for volunteer opportunities on the spot, as well as arrange for volunteer services that they might need themselves.

Volunteer work is especially welcome, Sicard said, in an era when many seniors are interested in re-entering the job market on a part-time basis.

“We have volunteers who have backgrounds in every field you can imagine,” Sicard said. “What we do is be matchmakers.”