VOLUNTEERING  &  RETIREMENT  PLANNING

Volunteering and Retirement Planning

 

Volunteering can play a key role at every stage but it can also serve as a way to help you through transitions, such as retirement. Volunteering can contribute to your quality of life today and allow you to create a legacy for the future.

 

Whether your transition or retirement involves a change in your household, neighbourhood, health situation, employment status, or daily schedule, volunteering can make your days both meaningful and satisfying in new ways.

Volunteering can connect you to your community, help you maintain your skills or develop new skills, and allow you to participate in the democratic process. Through 

volunteering, you can help shape and preserve the society you want to live in - for yourself and for generations to come.

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How can volunteering fit into my lifestyle?

 

You may be at a point in your life when you do not want to take on any more responsibility or you may be in a position to take charge. There is a wide spectrum of volunteer opportunities available to suit a range of interests and circumstances.

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You can volunteer:

 

• From home

• In an office

• In a garden

• Overseas

• With family and friends

• On your own

• Just in the summer

• Once a year

• Every day

• Now or later

• Short-term, longer-term, ongoing, or occasionally

 

Combine volunteering with other things that are important in

your life such as:

 

• Time with family 

• Travelling 

• Spending time with friends 

• Hobbies 

• Recreation 

 

What kind of volunteering can I do?

 

The possibilities are endless.

 

Leadership

 

• Facilitate a strategic planning session

• Serve on a Board or Advisory Committee

• Chair a fundraising campaign

 

Management and administration

 

• Review a Human Resources Manual

• Organize a volunteer schedule for an event

• Enter data 

• Provide general office help

 

Technology and social media

 

• Design the website 

• Write a blog

• Customize a donor database

 

One-to-one support

 

• Tutor 

• Comfort a victim of violence

• Be a mentor 

• Coach an executive director

 

Entertainment

 

• Sing at the fundraiser

• MC at a volunteer service

• Do a stand-up comedy act at the fundraiser

 

Benefits of Volunteering

 

In addition to the valuable contribution you make to the community, volunteering has been proven to have many benefits for you as a volunteer.

 

Opportunities to:

 

• Learn new skills

• Expand horizons

• Maintain or establish a sense of belonging

• Expand social and business contacts

• Stay active

 

Reduction of:

 

• Stress, anxiety, and depression

• Low self-esteem

• Social isolation

• Stress-related illness

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