Arlington RSVP Volunteer of the Year helps seniors stay healthy

Story and Photo by Rob Paine, RSVP-Northern Virginia

2018 Arlington RSVP Volunteer of the Year Janet Garber had just retired from a job she says was “pretty intense.”

She said during her career with the federal government which concluded in 2009 she didn’t have any time of her own, or “that’s the way it felt,” she said.

Spare time in hand as a newly-minted retiree, Janet embarked on a journey to find meaningful volunteer opportunities which brought her to RSVP-Northern Virginia.

“Trying to find them on my own was becoming difficult and I heard about RSVP, she said. She had heard that about RSVP’s personalized approach which includes asking volunteers about what their skills interests and passions are and then matching them up with volunteer opportunities. “ I jumped on that.” Janet said.

Janet says her first volunteer project with RSVP about six years ago involved helping out at on a rebuilding project.

RSVP-Northern Virginia will hold a seminar on senior volunteerism, Tuesday, April 9, at 10:30 a.m., at the Capital Caring Halquist Center in Arlington. The one-hour event is free and open to the public. You can register online by clicking here or you can call Carly Hubicki at RSVP at 703-403-5360.

RSVP, the region’s largest volunteer network for people 55-years-old and better, provides personalized support to seniors who are seeking meaningful and social volunteer opportunities in and around Fairfax County, Arlington County and the City of Alexandria.

“I used to do some furniture building and this was more in the carpentry business working houses, but at least I knew how to use the tools so I went and helped, she says. “They were individual projects one-day efforts but it was a lot of fun very rewarding and I learned quite a bit from the people that I was working with it.”

“A lot of the volunteer work I have done has been working with seniors, by choice,” she adds.

“It is so rewarding to help people that are really my peers. I am helping them in areas that perhaps they don’t have the skills that I do. They have different skills, but the appreciation from their side and the gratification from my side that I am able to help somebody else is just amazing.”

Janet later moved onto a volunteer position at Vinson Hall, an RSVP nonprofit partner in McLean that is home to hundreds of veterans and spouses of veterans.

She later found out about the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics, another RSVP partner for which she has volunteered for more than seven years.

“I did not even know the senior Olympics existed,” she recalled during an interview in a community room at the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Wakefield Recreation Center in Annandale, where the NVSO board meets every month.

“I saw an announcement that they were looking for volunteers so the first year

I volunteered with them (the NVSO) all I did is sit and hold a stopwatch and time swimmers, she says. “As I was a swimmer I’m looking at all these people going into the pool, I am doing a little math in my head and going ‘oh my gosh, these people are 10-15 years older than me and they are all faster swimmers’ It was very exciting!”

Janet says she says she prefers the longer term volunteer opportunities like the one she enjoys with the NVSO. “You get a greater sense o fellowship not just with the people that you're on committees with but the people that you're helping.”

Janet has now been with the NVSO for more than 7 years. She joined the board and has served a term at the NVSO board chair.

Each September she is a familiar face at several NVSO venues keeping track of competitors’ times and scores at the track events in Arlington, the horseshoe and bocce scores in Fairfax City and recording the times for the swimming races in Loudoun County, utilizing a great deal of her experience in statistics from her days working in budget and finance for the Department of Defense.

Janet and the rest of the NVSO board is already hard at work organizing the 2019 games that begin Saturday, Sept. 14, in Arlington, and will include more than 60 events spread over most of Northern Virginia.

Janet stays busy with other volunteer work when not working on RSVP related projects. Each year she volunteers to help people with taxes thru AARP’s tax preparation program.

Janet’s advice to retirees looking for a best volunteer opportunities?

“RSVP is a great place to start,” she says.

“RSVP does a fantastic job of collecting your skills your desires and trying to match them up … if something doesn't (fit) they will help you find something else to do.

Why does Janet volunteer?

“I do the volunteer work because of how good it makes me feel.”

RSVP offers more than 300 meaningful opportunities that include helping seniors age in place, assisting local food pantries, and teaching financial literacy. Several of RSVP’s nonprofit partners offer volunteer opportunities in Arlington including APAH, Capital Caring and Arlington Meals on Wheels.

RSVP volunteers enjoy flexible schedules, free accident and liability insurance while serving, optional mileage and meal reimbursement and are invited to volunteer group projects and social gatherings.

To sign up for the April 9th orientation, email RSVP Volunteer Specialist Carly Hubicki at chubicki@volunteerfairfax.org or call RSVP at 703-403-5360. To learn more about RSVP, please visit www.rsvpnova.org. RSVP-Northern Virginia is a program of Volunteer Fairfax, Volunteer Alexandria and Volunteer Arlington.