Retirees find satisfaction in serving community

The retired Queensbury couple leave their house early in the morning to deliver food from Meals on Wheels to some of the area's homebound elderly. They finish with lunch at a local restaurant.

The Casellas learned of the volunteer opportunity through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Warren and Washington counties, which aims to "enrich the lives of persons age 55-plus by tapping their vast wealth of experience, skills and talents," according to project director Karen Kirkpatrick.

Finding time

But one Saturday when it rained and Mr. Casella missed his tee-time, she convinced him to accompany her to a local food pantry.

"In addition to the people who spoke foreign languages and the Haitian population, we noticed there were people in the line that we knew," Mr. Casella explained. "Our eyes met. It was such a humiliation for them. I always knew there were poor and needy people, but not our own neighbors."

Mr. Casella credits that experience as a turning point in the way he viewed the world.

After retiring and moving to Queensbury, the Casellas found they had, all of a sudden, "nothing to do in the course of the week," he said. "We realized there are 168 hours in a week. You sleep 56. So, you have 112 hours on your hands. I can only play golf so much, and I don't watch soaps."

Pitching in

A program like RSVP, Mr. Reese thinks, can be invaluable for both the physical and mental health of the senior volunteer and the community organization at which they work.

"It's an opportunity to do something that [retirees] want to do -- and, on the other side of the coin, it's economical to use the volunteers to serve the community and the people in the community," he said.

Mr. Reese wishes that "people knew that RSVP is out there, so that people looking for something to volunteer for know that they have a place to go to discover what they really feel fits best for them."

'Second career'

In addition to delivering meals, he also uses his 30 years of experience with computers to generate reports that RSVP sends back to the state on a quarterly and yearly basis. "I loved that so much that I've been doing it for six years," he said.

"We absolutely love what we do," he continued. Volunteering "does something for someone who has been very occupied all their life -- and now you're doing something for someone else, and there's a great high that comes out of that. You know that some of these people never speak to a person during the course of a day. And my wife has never talked to anyone less than a minute in her life." While he waits in the car, "I know she's in there, petting somebody's five cats or singing with them."

Selflessness

He still enjoys getting in a game of golf here and there, while remembering the Gospel verse he quoted not so long ago to some fellow volunteers: "What you do for the least of mine, you do for me."

(There are RSVP programs in almost every county. For RSVP of Warren and Washington counties, call 743-9158. For RSVP of the Capital District, call 442-5585. For other counties, visit www.joinseniorservice.org.)

(12-12-02) [[In-content Ad]]