By Frieda R. Bennett, WSU Retiree
The decision to retire is not often an easy one to make. There are many factors to consider including where to live, healthcare needs, finances, and the “unexpected” that you may face during the retirement years. Yet, it is exciting to anticipate having more time to do the things you enjoy.
After a 38-year career as an educator, with the last five years spent at Wright State University, I made the decision to retire in 2010. Since retiring, I have filled my time line dancing, swimming, attending exercise classes, traveling occasionally, volunteering, and having lunch monthly with former colleagues. During the past seven years I held regional positions in my sorority that required quite a bit of my time—putting in the hours of a fulltime job (unpaid volunteer of course)—but it was a labor of love. In 2015 I had the privilege of becoming a member of the Wright State University Retirees Association (WSURA) Board of Directors and served for two years. While on the board, I participated in a panel discussion during the Benefits and Wellness Fair to talk about preparing for retirement and life as a retiree. With that experience in mind, I wanted to share more about my retirement journey.
Who could have guessed that I would be working again! It was an opportunity too good to pass up—a new challenge that is meaningful and enables me to continue learning and growing—an opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of others. (Sounds like the reason I became an educator.) I applied for a part-time position with The Dayton Foundation to become a Del Mar Encore Fellow. After a telephone interview and two in-person interviews with the potential host organization, I was selected and began my new adventure in August.
Volunteer Opportunities
To receive detailed information about the projects and volunteer opportunities, please contact the Fellows listed below. The time commitment for volunteering varies for each project from a one-time basis for three hours to several hours monthly. If you are interested in learning more about the Del Mar Fellows Initiative, contact Noreen Willhelm, senior fellow at the Dayton Foundation (937.225.9949) or nwillheld@daytonfoundation.org
- St. Mary Development Corp.: Dr. Frieda R Bennett, 937.277.8149, ext. 221, fbennettdelmarfellow@smdcd.org
- Brunner Literacy Center: Sherré Collier, 937.881.4129, scollier@brunnerliteracy.org
- Dayton Metro Library: Dr. Kaye Manson Jeter, 937.496.8627, kjeter@daytonmetrolibrary.org
- National Conference for Community and Justice: Dr. Linda Fischbach, 937.222.6225, lfischback@nccjgreaterdayton.org
- Learn to Earn: Vel Hux, 937.236.0065, ext. 2249, Vel.hux@learntoearndayton.org
The Dayton Foundation Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative
The Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative is designed to leverage underutilized human resources by connecting high talent senior adults, known as Fellows, with nonprofit organizations (host) engaged in initiatives that have a positive impact on the Dayton community. By 2020 it is projected that those over the age of 65 will represent one in every four Americans. At the same time the improving physical and mental health of senior adults is creating an opportunity for this population to continue to contribute beyond their primary employment years. The Del Mar initiative helps to create opportunities for the senior adult population to serve as Fellows and Volunteers.
I am excited about the project that I am working on for St. Mary Development Corporation (SMDC). SMDC builds affordable housing for seniors and connects them to services that will enable the residents to “age in place” with dignity and independence. The focus of this project is to determine the technology literacy of the residents, research current and emerging technology as it relates to telehealth, and develop a plan to improve access to health services through the implementation of technology. Volunteers will assist in this project by administering surveys in January or February. There are currently four other projects underway.
The Brunner Literacy Center (BLC): The BLC is a gathering place for adult literacy that provides free, one-on-one tutoring to adults aged 19+ who want to improve their reading, writing, and math literacy skills. One of the goals for this project is to recruit a skill-based Senior Volunteer pool. The tutors come from varied backgrounds and no tutoring experience is needed (training is provided). The BLC welcomes those with teaching experience or other careers, a passion for reading, or just the desire to give back.
The Dayton Metro Library: The focus of this project is to evaluate the needs of the community for after-school home+work help programs and review efforts currently in place (local, as well as national best-practice programs) to establish a Library-led Homework Help program as a volunteer-powered initiative available at multiple DML branches, with the goal of establishing a sustainable model utilizing volunteers.
National Conference for Community and Justice (NCJCC): The project for NCJCC will examine and recommend options for leveraging NCCJ’s longstanding history, expertise and resources for a strategic alignment with similar organization(s)/mission(s) and conduct a review/evaluation of all programs and services to identify opportunities for improvement, elimination and/or creation of new programs/services.
Learn to Earn: Learn to Earn Dayton serves as the cradle-to-career infrastructure for systemic solutions to ensure that every young person in the city of Dayton and Montgomery County is ready to learn by kindergarten and ready to earn when graduating college with a post-secondary credential. A focus of this project is to facilitate systemic changes to improve the effectiveness and availability of afterschool and summer resources for children in Montgomery County.
