A Rich Retirement
Whether it is you who is approaching those golden years we call retirement or one of your loved ones is in those years, there is no question that making that transition from the working world and decades of responsibility and hard work is not always easy. The sudden change of lifestyle and that feeling of “no longer being useful” is one of the most difficult aspects of retirement and growing older. When you combine that with reduced activity and the natural decline in physical ability that aging brings, you have a powerful emotional transition to go through.
That is why people who actively counsel the elderly have learned that the most positive thing a person can do to combat that depression and sense of “uselessness” that plaques retirees is to make themselves useful. And there is no better place for them to do that than in community service.
There are a variety of great reasons that volunteerism among the elderly is such a great idea. And if you are in a position to counsel an aging family member or friend, it is important to remember that doing community service is not all about being charitable and helping out the down and out. It is just as much about the health and well-being of the retiree as it is for the good of the community and the people in it.
By getting out into the community and finding rewarding ways to perform community service, that sense of “being needed” and being a part of something is given back to the retiree. Community service and the retirement set are a perfect match for each other. People who are staffing community service projects are always in need of an army of qualified and mature help, especially from those who have sufficient time to really do a good job with a community service project.
This is just right for retiree who if anything suffers with too much time on their hands. Too often, that time can be turned to self-pity or indulging in less than healthy lifestyle choice. Community service is, after all, “work”. And as a people who are enjoying their rewards from a lifetime of work, this is just the thing to transition to a life of retirement.
Community service can also call upon the elderly to participate in some level of physical activity. Now your local community service coordinator can make sure that their elderly volunteers are given assignments appropriate to their physical abilities. But just getting out there and greeting others, reading to the blind, helping with a food or blood drive or jumping in where they can on a big community project gets the blood moving and maybe just the right kind of exercise they need to stay active and healthy.
Community service also provides opportunities to socialize with people of all ages and social backgrounds. One of the greatest dangers of a retirement lifestyle is the loneliness and isolation stepping out of the working world causes. Even if the elderly person lives in a retirement community, the chance to socialize with younger people and people of many backgrounds and orientations is tremendously healthy for the mental stability of one in that stage of life.
The benefits to the retiree of getting involved in community service are many. But giving that retired person that sense of personal value and worth that they have come to expect from each day’s work is valuable beyond measurement. Many community service projects are short term so the volunteers get that immediate gratification that gives anyone a boost, but even more so a retiree who feels left out and not useful. Community service may be just the medicine to cure those ills.
PPPPP 623
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Young Hands Making a Difference What is the more important goal of any kid? Well if you are a kid ...
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A Different Kind of Christmas Each year as Christmas season begins to go into full gear, we hear the complaint ...
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A Rich Retirement Whether it is you who is approaching those golden years we call retirement or one of your ...
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Can Mandatory Community Service Work? Lots of organizations coordinate youth community service work. And you would be hard pressed to ...
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Coming Together There is something about community service that causes a sense of coming together that really is not possible ...
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Community Service is a Family Affair Sometimes we think our kids never listen to us. This can be a particularly ...
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Frats are not all like “Animal House” When you think of a college fraternity, the traditional image of a hard ...
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Getting the Government out of Community Service We live in a time when we tend to look to the government ...
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Helping Hands Around the World When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local ...
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How the Rich Really Get Richer Somehow we have a fascination and sometimes a disgust toward the wealthiest people in ...
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It Takes a Village A few years ago a book came out called “It Takes a Village” that created a ...
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Jerry’s Kids Forty one years. That is quite a long time. And that is how long Jerry Lewis has been ...
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Merchants Reach Out Sometimes we see some tremendous acts of community service that one of the really big businesses in ...
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Real Patriotism Patriotism is a word that has gotten a lot of use in the last few years as more ...
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Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels. If you have bikers in your community, you can relate to that sense ...
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Teens on a Mission from God One of the many great lines from the classic movie The Blues Brothers was ...
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The Church as Good Neighbor There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether religion should be part ...
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The Evidence of Eagles Most of us at some point or another have met a young man who proudly includes ...
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The Good Lawyers When you think of a lawyer, sometimes we get an image of high powered men in flashy ...
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The Greatest Generation Not long ago, Tom Brokaw, a well known newsman and author wrote a book about the heroic ...
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The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity There may be no more recognizable organization name that comes to mind when we ...
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to A Rich Retirement. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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Young Hands Making a Difference
A Different Kind of Christmas
A Rich Retirement
Can Mandatory Community Service Work?
Children Reaching Children
Coming Together
Community Service is a Family Affair
Frats are not all like “Animal House”
Getting the Government out of Community Service
Helping Hands Around the World
How the Rich Really Get Richer
It Takes a Village
Jerry’s Kids
Merchants Reach Out
Real Patriotism
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels
Teens on a Mission from God
The Church as Good Neighbor
The Evidence of Eagles
The Good Lawyers
The Greatest Generation
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity
The Power of Working Together
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats
What’s in it for Them?
What You Can Do for Your Country
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