The Best Kind of Social Networking

Help the elderly with their devices. Many senior citizens aren’t tech-savvy, but given that we live

in a technologically advancing society, learning how to use a computer or the Internet can be

very helpful. Volunteer your assistance to a senior who has a cell phone or computer and needs

help using it. Be email buddies with your new friends, too!

Give Someone’s Grandfather or Great Aunt What They Always Wanted

Grant a wish to a senior citizen. Volunteers for the Twilight Wish Foundation fulfill requests by donating items (like a home computer requested by a grandmother who wanted to email her grandkids) or by contributing their time. Learn all about it at twilightwish.org. Some wishes-like one from a retired postman who wanted to go over his old route one last time-require planning instead of money, and volunteers tend to choose items or actions that most speak to them.

The Best Kind of Social Networking

Help the elderly with their devices. Many senior citizens aren’t tech-savvy, but given that we live in a technologically advancing society, learning how to use a computer or the Internet can be very helpful. Volunteer your assistance to a senior who has a cell phone or computer and needs help using it. Be email buddies with your new friends, too!

Give Someone’s Grandfather or Great Aunt What They Always Wanted

https://twilightwish.org/fulfilled-twilight-wishes/

Grant a wish to a senior citizen. Volunteers for the Twilight Wish Foundation fulfill requests by donating items (like a home computer requested by a grandmother who wanted to email her grandkids) or by contributing their time. Learn all about it at twilightwish.org. Some wishes-like one from a retired postman who wanted to go over his old route one last time-require planning instead of money, and volunteers tend to choose items or actions that most speak to them.

The Best Kind of Social Networking

Help the elderly with their devices. Many senior citizens aren’t tech-savvy, but given that we live in a technologically advancing society, learning how to use a computer or the Internet can be very helpful. Volunteer your assistance to a senior who has a cell phone or computer and needs help using it. Be email buddies with your new friends, too!

#Helpful

    Are you software-savvy? Sign up to teach older adults computer and technology skills through SeniorNet (seniornet.org). Helping our elderly with tech skills is so rewarding. I have seen grandmothers go from never having emailed before to loving the world wide web and contributing their own wisdom, one tweet at a time.

Make Furry Friends

    Studies show pets provide both a psychological and physical boost to their owners- so donate to petsfortheelderly.org to help a senior get a dog or a cat. The unconditional love of a pet can make a life that much sweeter.

Be a Fixer-Upper (Plus Weeding is Good Therapy)

    Assist seniors near you with tasks like raking, shoveling, or doing minor home repairs through Volunteers of America’s Safety of Seniors Handyman Program (voa.org). I pull my 98- year-old neighbor’s weeds and it is a good exercise for me, it benefits the neighborhood, and she appreciates the weekly attention she and her yard enjoy!

Give Someone’s Grandfather or Great Aunt What They Always Wanted

Grant a wish to a senior citizen. Volunteers for the Twilight Wish Foundation fulfill requests by donating items (like a home computer requested by a grandmother who wanted to email her grandkids) or by contributing their time. Learn all about it at twilightwish.org. Some wishes-like one from a retired postman who wanted to go over his old route one last time-require planning instead of money, and volunteers tend to choose items or actions that most speak to them.

Give ‘Em Space

    Leave the parking spot up front for someone else that might need to park closer than you do.

Pass on the Pleasure of Reading

    Drop off your old magazines at a retirement home, hospice, or any other place where the residents or patients may enjoy them. At my place of work, we get large-print copies of our books sent in multiples, so we keep one for our library, send one to the author, and share the others with our local retirement home. An elder Beat poet lives in the El Cerrito village for seniors, so I can drop off a collection of magazines and large-print books and then sit down for tea and a nice chat. I leave having received much more than I brought with me.

Help from Behind the Wheel

    Be a volunteer instructor in AARP’s Smart Driver course (aarp.org/drive), which allows older drivers to brush up on their behind-the-wheel skills. Next time you want to give back, just put it in drive.

Make Furry Friends

    Studies show pets provide both a psychological and physical boost to their owners- so donate to petsfortheelderly.org to help a senior get a dog or a cat. The unconditional love of a pet can make a life that much sweeter.

Be a Fixer-Upper (Plus Weeding is Good Therapy)

    Assist seniors near you with tasks like raking, shoveling, or doing minor home repairs through Volunteers of America's Safety of Seniors Handyman Program (voa.org). I pull my 98-year-old neighbor's weeds and it is a good exercise for me, it benefits the neighborhood, and she appreciates the weekly attention she and her yard enjoy!

Weeding is Free Therapy: Random Acts of Neighborliness

Assist seniors near you with tasks like raking, shoveling, or doing minor home repairs through Volunteers of America’s Safety of Seniors Handyman Program (voa.org). I pull my 92 year-old neighbor’s weeds and it is good exercise for me, beautifies the neighborhood and she appreciates the weekly attention she and her yard enjoy! 

Make Beautiful Music Together

If you’re a musician living in NYC, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Nashville or Miami, you can volunteer through the nonprofit Musicians on Call to deliver a live, in-room performances to patients undergoing treatment or unable to leave their beds. (wwwmusiciansoncall.org) Add a dose of joy to life in a healthcare facility or a senior center by bringing the healing power of music to people who need it. 

Dad’s Big Day

On July 19, 1910, the governor of the U.S. state of Washington proclaimed the nation’s first Father’s Day. However, it was not until 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official, that the day became a nationwide holiday in the United States. Celebrate your father today by making him feel special and loved with a homemade gift or meal. For your friends who may have lost their father, check in with them as this day will be difficult and there are many “rad dads” who are elders with wonderful stories to tell at senior centers.  Head to your local café and grab some yummy pastries, coffee and tea and honor the elders in your community.

Lend An Ear

Counselors can contribute enormously to our troops when the return back at the end of their service term. I honestly think my Ex-Marine dad has PTSD but that posttraumatic stress was not even acknowledged until long after the Viet Nam War and only through the activism of many.  Therapists and mental health professionals can really help our military veterans by volunteering their own service through the organization Give an Hour (giveanhour.org) and this is extremely helpful to families of vets. Listening can change lives for the better here in a big way.