This month's special volunteer is:

1. Why did you decide to become a Volunteer?

Because I lost my husband just before I retired and felt that I just had to keep busy. I wamted to do something constructive and to be around people. I was in my early 60s when my husband passed away and, all of a sudden, I felt very lonely. Most of my friends were still married and, even though they were very gracious, it was hard for me.
One of the reasons I decided to volunteer was so that I could be with people who were in the same situation that I was at the time. Of course, a lot of them were older than I was but I've now caught them up because I have now been volunteering with them for the past fifteen years!

2. What does volunteering do for you?

It's created a social life for me and it makes me feel good. I fill my life with volunteering and find that it's like being part of a big family. As well as RSVP, I volunteer with several other local groups.

3. How long have you been a volunteer?

I've been an RSVP volunteer for around ten years although I didn't volunteer with this organisation at the very beginning. I was already turning in regular hours with the Peninsula Seniors group before even being aware that RSVP existed. They told me that, with all the hours that I was putting in at the Peninsula Seniors, I certainly qualified for RSVP and that was the very first time that I had heard about it.

4. Have you made any good friends from this job?

Oh Yes! - Wonderful friends! Like I say, it's my life - my social life, and I really have enjoyed that a lot. Apart from that, just being active and helping others gives me a lot of satisfaction. Some of my friends are from RSVP but I also meet with many others through the travel side of the business. This includes several folks who I originally met through my time with Penesula Seniors. These people are starting to come along on the trips with RSVP and it just extends our membership even more.

- How has this changed your life?

It keeps me busy. I'm up every day with something to do. So I'm not just sitting around eating bon-bons all day. I really feel like I am doing something!

5. What would you say to anyone who thinks they are too busy to volunteer?

I would tell them that I think they should really look at the things they are currently doing, and compare it to the other worthwhile things that they could be doing. I would tell them that they need to get their priorities in order. There are some things that you do that just end up wasting your time and then, what do you really have? To me, volunteering is definitely NOT wasting my time. People need to do more constructive things for themselves as well as for the community.

Terry then went on to tell me about some of the exiting trips that she is planning for our members in the coming months.

"I retired from my position of Travel Director for the Peninsula Seniors because I had to plan a trip each week for them and I found that this was too much for me to do. The trips were great and I enjoyed it for a long time, but I just got tired. I wanted to continue doing something like that, but on a much smaller scale. So I stopped doing it for a while but I began to miss it after I had been away for about a year. I was then approached by Hope to do something similar for RSVP but only organising three or four trips each year instead of every week. That not only sounded good to me but would give me time to do some of the other things I wanted to do.

"Although we started it, I've found it hard trying to get the word out to our members, especially as many of them don't have a computer and the paper version of the newsletter only comes out every three months. Hence, I am hoping that this Web Site version of the RSVP newsletter will alert more of our members to some of the trips we are planning for them.

"As a matter of fact, we just got back from our first trip. This one was to the Black Hills and, although some of our members that went knew a few of the people on the trip before we departed, they really got to know everyone very well by the time it ended. I usually arrange to have a "get-to-know-you" party before the trip and have found that this works out very well. We have other trips coming up in the future. Next year we have a trip planned for Copper Canyon in February, a trip to the Irish Republic in July and another to Boston, Nantucket and the Islands of New England in September".

As well as oranizing these trips for RSVP, Terry is a regular volunteer at the local Hospice Thrift Avenue facility.

(Details will be posted on these trips in future RSVP newsletters, so please keep looking in the months ahead.)