More Press Coverage

Generating Generosity
June 25, 2004, The Post-Standard

By FRANK BRIEADDY

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health and the MetLife Foundation concludes that the nation should start planning now to put the 77 million members of the baby boom generation to work as volunteers.

The oldest boomers will hit the traditional retirement age of 65 in seven years.

But the study, titled "Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagement," suggests there is nothing traditional about the way this huge population segment will enter retirement.

"Without careful planning and without the infusion of new resources, there is a real danger that we as a nation may squander the opportunity that is offered by this cadre of aging boomers heading our way," said Jay Winsten, associate dean of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Harvard and the MetLife Foundation announced plans for a national campaign to mobilize the boomers for public service in their communities.

Referring to that campaign, Linda Brabham said, "I think that is really needed to change people's mind-sets."

Brabham organizesvolunteers for Meals on Wheels of Syracuse and is co-president of Central New York's chapter of Administrators of Volunteers Services.

"It's a good time in the history of America to let people know they can make a difference in their communities," she said.

Brabham said the boomer generation's parents, who went through World War II, viewed patriotism as a personal obligation.

Their children are now engaged in a debate over the meaning of patriotism as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq that has divided the nation.

She said volunteer community service is a patriotic effort everyone can agree on.

Among the Harvard study's conclusions:

The link between age and retirement is eroding. Older men and especially older women are staying in the work force longer.

"Instead of retiring en masse in their late 50s or early 60s, boomers are more likely to continue working longer and to move gradually toward complete retirement," reads an executive summary of the report.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, more people volunteer in midlife than in retirement. But those who volunteer in the early years of retirement do so with greater frequency.

The boomers, who will live longer and healthier in retirement than their parents, need to plan for "a life that achieves meaning in their later years by connecting in new ways to the larger community around them," according to the summary.

Organizations that rely on volunteers need to plan for the influx of helpers who will respond to diverse and challenging tasks.

Intergenerational programs deserve special attention. "These programs build community by integrating the old with the young, transmitting knowledge and experience to future generations and re-enforcing the value of people of all ages," the summary states.

Vince Hollopeter,of Clay, said his work with teens at the Cicero Canteen gives him a great deal of satisfaction.

"It's a nice feeling that you can actually affect somebody and help him become a productive member of society," he said.

At 51, he's in the middle of the boomer generation.

Hollopeter also is a volunteer organizer of a community festival. He said he thinks the people who don't volunteer don't realize how much donated time is involved in a variety of community activities.

"There's real time and real work involved in it," he said.

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program has been pondering the advent of baby boomer volunteers for several years now, said Anne Goulet, director of RSVP in Onondaga County.

"RSVP all over the country is trying to recruit from this baby boomer generation," she said.

"We're taking a good look at studies that show what people in their 50s really find fulfilling as far as volunteer work," she said.

Those studiesshow an interest in working with children and those kinds of volunteer opportunities are being increased.

Goulet agrees with the report's conclusion that old terminology might not work for this generation of elder volunteers.

"We use the term seniors, but many people don't want to be called seniors at (age) 55," she said.

The Harvard study uses the slogan, "What will I do with the rest of my life?"

Goulet favors an approach that defines volunteering as critical, much the same way that Hollopeter views it.

"It's not just being nice," Goulet says of volunteers. "They're needed."

Besides workinglonger, the boomers have other obligations that are cutting into time that might be spent on volunteering.

"I know a lot of people of that generation that are taking care of their parents or their grandchildren, or both," said Lucretia Hudzinski, United Way of Central New York vice president for its Community Volunteer Resource Center.

Hudzinski said some smaller groups may need to gear up for the influx of more volunteers, but the Community Volunteer Resource Center is ready to put them to work right now.

"On our Web site there are over 200 opportunities," she said. "I can never fill them all. If they (the boomers) come out in large droves, hey, I'll put them to work."