Volunteers help senior citizen groups keep
moving & growing BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Volunteers are an integral part of the senior citizen organizations in suburbs around the Twin Cities. In Eagan, the Eagan 55 plus/Senior volunteers contributed a total of 4,479 volunteer hours during 2013, according to Loudi Rivamonte, coordinator of that city’s 55 plus/Seniors program. “These hours helped support community-wide events, programs and activities for the 55 plus/Seniors,” Rivamonte said. In 2013, a total of 6,179 participants Burnsville resident Wanda Trousil has been an active volunteer at that city’s Senior Center since visited the Lone Oak Room at the Ea2000. She is a member of the center’s advisory council, fills in as the front-desk receptionist gan Senior Center, and 10,797 particiseveral times a week and also works in the library. (Photo by Tad Johnson) pants attended Eagan 55 plus/Senior programs. Now, there are 28 Lone Oak Room Host volunteers and many others who volunteer for special events and activities. “Without volunteers, these numbers would be difficult to attain,” Rivamonte observed. Joyce Swedean, chair of the Eagan 55 plus/Senior program’s 10-member board of directors, is one of the people who is busy helping to plan senior trips, picnics on the patio with entertainment and games, holiday parties, pizza parties and market fest. “We’re quite busy; we have more than 400 members,” Swedean said. “We’re doing some city things, too. It’s a good organization. Loudi [Rivamonte] helps a lot with planning and making sure things don’t overlap.” Swedean said she began looking for a new volunteer activity after she retired from a 30-year career with Lutheran Members of the Eagan 55 plus/Senior board of directors are, from left, Jerry Spinner, Margaret Brotherhood. Miller, Marianne Fletcher, Joyce Swedean, Jackie Buhta, Eileen Theroux and Marilyn Deviley. Not “I did volunteer church work, then pictured: Margo Danner. (Submitted photo by Al Kiecker) I worked full-time for a church school
in Richfield, retired again, and now I’m working part-time with Edina Realty,” she said. Swedean, a 22-year resident of Eagan, said she grew up in Richfield, where her parents both volunteered and were active at church. “I learned volunteering from them,” she said. “I like to volunteer. I’ve met a lot of people. When you’re getting paid for a job, you have to do it. When you volunteer, you don’t have to do it; you do it because you want to.” Swedean would like to get more seniors involved in volunteering, though she acknowledges that some in their early 60s are still working. “Once they get involved in volunteer work, they really enjoy it,” she said. “It helps to keep active. You’re thinking about things. And there’s a lot of fellowship.” Her volunteering isn’t an everyday thing, but Swedean said she spends a lot of time at the Eagan Senior Center. “I’m enjoying myself,” she said. “I’m enjoying the companionship of other seniors.” In Burnsville, Wanda Trousil, a resident of that city since 1992, has been an active volunteer at that city’s Senior Center since 2000. “I enjoy it,” she said. “It’s very satisfying. I feel like I’m helping people.” Trousil is a member of the center’s advisory council, fills in as the front-desk receptionist several times a week and also works in the library. She’s the second vice president for the Fun and Friendship group, which fixes meals twice a month and volunteers at the bake sales. “I love to help out at the Burnsville ice MOVING - TO PAGE 5