"Senior Corps Week" will honor senior volunteer work

This is "Senior Corps Week," a week to commemorate volunteer work of the Senior Corps program, which has over 245,000 volunteers age 55 plus serving nationwide.  Senior Corps programs are federally funded with local match and include Senior Companions, Foster Grandparents and the RSVP Volunteer Program.

Locally, the Northeast Iowa RSVP Program is under the sponsorship of the Decorah Public Library and covers the counties of Allamakee, Howard and Winneshiek.  340 local RSVP volunteers age 55 plus serve at 60 local non-profit agencies.  The volunteers chose where they would like to serve and how much time they would like to spend volunteering.  During the past grant year, those volunteers devoted just over 28,000 hours of service.

The Northeast Iowa RSVP Volunteer Program has been sponsored by the Decorah Public Library for fifteen years.  RSVP Director Kathy Barloon says during that time, volunteers devoted 255,711 hours of service in Northeast Iowa.  The Independent Sector for Iowa places a value on that service at $5,686,103.50.

For more information about volunteering through the Northeast Iowa RSVP Volunteer Program, contact Kathy or Kim at the Decorah Public Library at (563) 382-3717 or call toll free at (877) 806-0623.