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AmeriCorps Retired and Senior Volunteer Program matches volunteers to local organizations BY E L IZ ABE TH KANE PH OTO G RA P HY BY JO HN MIC HAE L SIMP SON
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olunteers are community heroes. Connecting those heroes to where their time and energy is needed most are people like Sydney Schamay, the AmeriCorps Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) manager in Durham. “We are essentially a free service [that’s offered] both to volunteers and [to the] community partner agencies – which includes the American Red Cross, Crayons2Calculators, Reinvestment Partners and the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, to name a few – that we work with,” Sydney says. “We have formal partnerships with them and they submit to us … their most current, most pressing volunteer needs. Then we act as a connector between those interested volunteers who generally know they want to volunteer, but don’t know exactly where they want to be put.” In order to find the right match, “we have a one-on-one Volunteer Susan Ragan has worked with the same middle schooler since conversation about [the potential volunteer’s] interests, skill mid-March, tutoring her in reading, spelling, vocabulary and writing skills. sets and life experience,” Sydney says. She explains that once the folks at RSVP understand what potential volunteers are looking for, they offer a sampling of different opportunities science in Ohio and Maryland. Her work involves helping students that might be a good fit. “There’s something for everyone,” Sydney improve their literacy skills and feel confident about their abilities. says. “We really try to do the legwork of thinking through exactly “Reading is so essential,” Susan says. “I’ve worked with my own what would be a good match.” grandchildren, and I just felt like that was something that I could Susan Ragan, who volunteers with the Augustine Literacy Project use my teaching skills to do and help a child.” of the Triangle through the Durham Public Schools Foundation, Susan says the RSVP program understood what her strengths is a retired high school teacher who taught math and computer were and paired her with opportunities that she cared about. “It’s 120
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