Volunteers work to improve the lives of others in Boone County - Special - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

BELVIDERE — Good volunteers aren’t as hard to come by as you’d think, according to Diana Peterson, Boone County volunteer coordinator at the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

“As a whole, we have over 200 volunteers all over the county in the 100 or more stations we serve,” she said, adding, “Of course we are always looking for more to add to our amazing group.”

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois manages the program, known as RSVP, for Winnebago and Boone counties. Volunteers are offered supplemental, personal liability and accident insurance at no cost as a perk for lending a hand.

Peterson’s role is that of a matchmaker. She has potential volunteers who are 55 and older fill out forms telling her about themselves and their interests.

She meets with them and shares some of the options available. Based on their personal schedules, abilities and needs, she sets them up with an organization.

RSVP serves schools, police and sheriff’s departments, the senior center, Girl and Boy Scouts, area food pantries, the Conservation District, historical center, Health Department, veterans groups, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, AARP, the city of Belvidere and the Boone County Jail, to name a few.

“They are all wonderful programs,” Peterson said. “At the jail, our seniors work with inmates and even have developed a library for them. They teach parenting classes, self-help, math, reading, yoga, nutrition and health, and another class that helps them to re-enter the workforce after incarceration.”

A former teacher in School District 100 for 35 years, she retired for about seven months. “It didn’t take very well," she said. "I started volunteering and all of a sudden, I had a full-time job again.

“I really love the program. There’s something for everyone and we have some of the most wonderful people come in here. Our volunteers live and die for their community. It is so refreshing to see that kind of admiration for community, because you don’t see it anywhere else.”

The rewards of giving of yourself are far too numerous to list, volunteer Barbara Hammond, 82, of Caladonia, said. She has helped all over the county with various tasks both with RSVP and on her own. One of her earliest assignments was at the Keen Age Center. She was a member of the now disbanded singing group The Silver Bells.

“We used to go into nursing homes and sing to residents,” Hammond said. “There was a woman sitting in a wheelchair singing along with us. And a man, possibly her son, was standing at her side watching her and crying, just sobbing. We found out later, she hadn’t spoken more than two words a day for years.

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