Senior volunteer group holds Saturday event in Fairfax, March 21

RSVP-Northern Virginia is offering a special Saturday edition of its popular “The Art of Volunteering in Retirement,” seminar, Saturday, March 21, at 10 a.m., at Volunteer Fairfax headquarters in Fairfax City. The one-hour event is free and open to the public.

RSVP, the region’s largest volunteer network for those 55-years-old or better, personally matches seniors and retirees with their ideal volunteer opportunities that are convenient, social, fun and meaningful.

Volunteer Fairfax is located at 10700 Page Avenue, Suite 101, in Fairfax, Va., 22030. To sign up for the March 21 orientation, visit https://conta.cc/2pU7v2D or email RSVP Volunteer Specialist Shannon White swhite@volunteerfairfax.org or call RSVP at 703-403-5360.

This is RSVP’s first Saturday seminar.

“We realize many seniors work during the week and may not be able to get to our weekday seminars,” says RSVP-Northern Virginia program manager Brandi Morris. “We are excited to offer a weekend opportunity so everyone can find out more about our services.”

RSVP offers more than 300 meaningful opportunities that include helping seniors age in place, assisting local food pantries, and teaching financial literacy. RSVP also recruits volunteers for community events including the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics.

“It’s never too early to start planning how you are going to spend your retirement,” Morris says. “A good number of our members join RSVP before they retire.”

RSVP takes an innovative and creative approach to personally match its volunteers with their ideal opportunities, according to Morris.

“The art of successful volunteering in retirement is finding an experience that is fun, social, convenient and meaningful,” Morris says. “RSVP specializes in personally helping folks find their niche so they can fully utilize their interests and talents in retirement while making new friends and having fun.”

Several of RSVP’s partners offer opportunities in the Central Fairfax Area including Volunteer Fairfax, Britepaths, Insight Memory Care Center, JA Finance Park and Facets. Representatives from some of RSVP’s partners will be available to speak about their volunteer needs.

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

Volunteers enjoy being part of RSVP for a variety of reasons.

"The big thing that I get out of volunteering is the satisfaction of helping others," says RSVP volunteer leader Ken Kozloff. "I love to help others, find out what their goals are and help them achieve them, whether it is teaching an autistic child to swim from one side of the pool to the other, teaching a stroke patient who would like to learn to swim again or helping a child who wants to swim on a Special Olympics team.”

RSVP volunteer Jim Waller of Fairfax enjoys the variety of opportunities RSVP has to offer. To listen to RSVP’s Rob Paine interview Jim about his RSVP volunteer experience, please click RSVP Volunteer Podcast.

The program also has social benefits that keep seniors connected.

"Volunteering is a good way to keep social,” says RSVP-Northern Virginia volunteer Sue Dussinger. “I have never in my life been a real ‘joiner’ but once you get into it (volunteering) you can’t stop. I love interacting with people.”

To sign up for the March 21 orientation, visit https://conta.cc/2pU7v2D or email RSVP Volunteer Specialist Shannon White swhite@volunteerfairfax.org or call RSVP at 703-403-5360.

To learn more about RSVP, please visit www.rsvpnova.org. RSVP Northern Virginia is program of Volunteer Fairfax, Volunteer Alexandria and Volunteer Arlington.