A “giving back” guide to volunteering By Julie Kendrick At what age should you become an active volunteer? According to a strong contingent of local boomers, the answer is—any age at all. But, they also say, don’t let another day go by without finding a way to give back to your community—you’ll feel great and have fun, too.
Second Stork: supplies for newborns in need “I’m 73, but I’m an active 73,” insists Nancy Pajunen, who volunteers as treasurer and board member for Second Stork, an organization that provides newborn supplies, distributed through partnerships with area hospitals, to families who are in need. “As a young mother I worked with pregnant, unmarried women and opened my home to them. It’s still an area of interest for me, so I’m happy to serve on the board of this terrific organization.” The St. Paul resident, who also spends much of the year at the family cabin in northeastern Minnesota, finds significant reward in her volunteer work. “You always get more out of it than what you give,” she says, and notes that she encourages her peers to
get active in volunteering, too. “I put a guilt trip on my friends and say that we have so much wisdom and experience. While we still have our energy, we need to give back. I tell them that Second Stork is there to help babies in need, who didn’t ask to come into this world, so we need to step up to the plate and pitch in,” she adds. Pajunen often makes a family affair of packaging up Second Stork infant supply bags, spending family holidays working with her children and grandchildren at the organization’s warehouse. “The kids love to do it— it’s fun to do and I let them play the radio as loudly as they want—and then we go for pizza,” she says. Ann Dickinson, a 73-year-old West St. Paul resident, was a founding member of Second Stork and currently volunteers as a liaison between the Board and the Second Stork volunteer group. “No matter our age, we all need to be needed, so volunteering is the perfect solution for people of ‘good age’ who don’t fill quite as vital a role in their families or workplace as they once did,” she says. “I certainly get a hundredfold back when my 17-yearold granddaughter and her spirited high school friends join me to fill
Caring for kids at the Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. SUbmITTed Image
Second Stork bags.”
vEAP: helping neighbors at any age Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People (VEAP) is a Bloomington-based social services agency. Shari DeBlieck, VEAP Volunteer Director, says, “While we do have volunteers of all ages, we have many senior volunteers, both those who want to work with clients as well as behind the scenes. All of our opportunities offer that social element seniors desire, which is what keeps them young and vital,” says. She cites the diligent volunteer efforts of Marian Horning, 86, who has volunteered with VEAP since December 1980. Horning helps out with countless jobs, including many for the organization’s two fundraisers. Her willingness to make phone calls, a task that others often dislike, is especially appreciated. “Last year, she called 600 volunteers to invite them to the Holiday Benefit and thank them for their volunteer services,” DeBlieck says. Horning, who notes that she’s volunteered for VEAP since it began as a small agency near where she lives in Richfield, says that the organization “is a great cause—and I’m amazed to
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