Finding Opportunities for Active Agers: How to Get Involved in Your Community

Many active agers are retired from work but they are still, well, active!  While you may not want to do full-time work or do the same kinds of things you did at your job, there are still a lot of hours in the day. You still have a lot to give. Now is the perfect time to get involved in your community and give back.

Look for Local Events

These are usually announced in some way. Lots of times you'll see flyers about an event at the post office, coffee shop, or other gathering places. Keep an eye out for local festivals, block parties, and other events. When you find out about something – GO!  Maybe invite a friend to come along with you 

Support Your Local Sports Teams

Look for local school teams, high school, college, or even elementary school. They love to have spectators. Maybe you could help them out by selling refreshments or even helping to coach. In any case, just watching and sharing in the excitement of the game might be fun

Shop Locally

Support your local small business people. Instead of going to Target or Walmart, find a small shop that sells what you are looking for. Find a locally owned hardware store. People in smaller stores tend to be more friendly and less stressed. Look for farmer's markets where you can buy produce direct from local farmers even if you live in the middle of a city. Support your local economy by shopping locally.

Church

You might want to start tending to your spiritual side if you have been neglecting that aspect of yourself. Church communities tend to be very friendly and provide lots of opportunities for socializing and volunteering.

Join a Class or Group

You can always keep learning new things. Taking a class at the local community college or community center can broaden your experience and get you out meeting new people. Exercise or dance classes can be fun. 

Or you could join a group. You can find local groups on sites like meetup.com. If you have an interest in something, there might be a group of people who want to get together and talk about it or do it. Hiking, knitting, and book clubs are all popular groups, but there are a lot of different topics for groups. If you can't find a group about one of your interests you can start one and see what happens.

Volunteer 

There are many ways you can volunteer to help your community. You could mentor kids, teenagers, or young adults. You could tutor through the school or through the library. Both schools and libraries have other volunteer opportunities as well.

If you like animals, pet shelters or rescue organizations can always need help. You could help look after their animals, help with neutering programs, help find homes for pets, or even foster a pet yourself

Food pantries and hospitals can always use help. You could also help care for a local park or community garden. You might even volunteer to build houses for people through Habitat for Humanity. Lots of nonprofits and charities have Walk-A-Thons and other events that you could participate in.

If there is a cause you believe in, you could volunteer to serve on the board of a nonprofit that works on that issue. You could run for a local public office. You could also work with a neighborhood watch program, and, if there isn't one, you could organize one.

Donate Your Resources

You could bring extra clothes to a homeless shelter, food to a food pantry, books to the library, towels and sheets to a pet shelter. You could always donate money as well, but donating goods provides an interaction with the organization that could lead to more volunteer opportunities if you want.

Organize Your Own Event

If you have great organizational skills and lots of time, you could create volunteer events that other people could help you with. You could put together a blood drive, community clean up, car wash or bake sale for a group in need, or put on a kids' event at the library.

Do you have any other ideas to get involved in your community?  Being out and being productive, without overwhelming yourself, can keep you active and engaged. That's what we are here to help you with at SeniorThrive!