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Volunteer for a Longer, Happier Life
July 7, 2004, The Sacramento Bee

By NANCY WEAVER TEICHERT

Baby boomers who will start to retire this dec ade can add healthy years to their lives by spending more time volunteering for civic and charitable work, according to a national health group.

The Harvard School of Public Health cites studies showing that volunteers not only do good for others, but they also help themselves live longer and healthier lives.

Older people now filling thousands of volunteer positions in the Sacramento region say they didn't need experts to tell them about the benefits.

Richard Wharton, 73, spends every morning pricing goods at the Salvation Army warehouse before heading to a hospital cancer ward, convalescent homes or United Cerebral Palsy's adult day care.

Unable to walk for the past six years because of muscular dystrophy, Wharton wheeled his chair into an ocean of wheelchairs filled by younger people with severe disabilities due to cerebral palsy.

"Hi, Diane. Hi, Mike. Hi, Ricky," calls out Wharton, a retired aircraft maintenance worker at McClellan Air Force Base, to the friends he has visited once a week for 10 years.

"Dick, I love you," said Andy Chau, 29, who waits for Wharton to feed him his lunch. Andy's hands are tightened into unmanageable fists, but he manages a laugh with Wharton. "Here's my good buddy," Wharton said.

When asked what he'd be doing if not volunteering, he didn't hesitate. "I'd have been dead a long time ago."

"There is a true public health benefit (to volunteering) - better physical and mental health," said Susan Moses, co-director of the Harvard School of Public Health's Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement. Harvard launched a nationwide campaign last week to encourage volunteering.

There will be a big pool of potential volunteers. More than 77 million baby boomers will retire over 18 years, starting in 2011. After the closets are clean and the photo albums filled, Moses said, many will start to wonder, "What am I going to do with the rest of my life."

Marc Freedman, author of "Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America," said that former President Carter is the "patron saint" of this new era of life. Carter, who turns 80 this year, has continued to make headlines with his humanitarian work after his presidency.

A study earlier this year by the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions found that older adults who mentored students in troubled urban schools showed improvements in physical and cognitive activities.

Dr. Linda Fried, director of John Hopkins' Center on Aging and Health, concluded that volunteering slows the aging process in ways that lead to a higher quality of life in older people.

Wanda Harling of Sacramento was a senior account executive with a mortgage loan and real estate investment firm when she retired at 65. After her ailing mother died, she found herself gardening, cleaning her house and growing lonely.

"I just feel happier and more fulfilled when I have a purpose," said Harling, who delivers meals to the frail elderly one day a week and serves as a volunteer marriage commissioner for Sacramento County.

"People are sometimes amazed I'm willing to give my time and energy for something I'm not getting paid for," said Harling. "I tell them I get much more out of it than I give."

Wharton and Harling found their volunteer assignments through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Sacramento County.

Director Carolyn Kneedler said the RSVP program has more than 600 volunteers age 50 and older who work with 170 community agencies as part of the National Senior Service Corp.

Kneedler wishes she could change the organization's name to appeal more to boomer retirees, by using only the initials and leaving out the word senior.

Her volunteers tutor children, teach English to adults, do tax work for the elderly, read for the blind, lead nature hikes or museum tours, visit seniors in their homes and take crime reports for law enforcement.

When Jane Arakaki of Sacramento worked for a big chemical company, she lived in Hawaii and traveled a lot. In retirement, she didn't want to go to the airport anymore, but she didn't want to stay home, either.

"I've seen family members that went downhill real quickly after retirement. I didn't want that to happen to me," said Arakaki, 60. "You re-evaluate your life."

Now, she volunteers at the sheriff's service center, the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force and the Red Cross, and leads hikes for a senior center. She said she keeps her mind sharp and helps people at the same time.

"I hope we, as the older generation, can help these people (baby boomers) realize how important it is to give back to the community," said Arakaki.