Help Wanted in Linn and Benton Counties

If you find a volunteer opportunity that peaks your interest,
give us a call at RSVP and we will make sure you get connected with the agency of your choice. In Linn County call 917-4476 and in Benton County call 753-9197.

LINN AND BENTON
Foster Grandparent Program
If you are interested in making a difference by working with children in an educational setting, the Foster Grandparent Program might be for you. Volunteers work in small groups or one on one helping children improve their academic skills and increase their self image. Volunteers 60 years old or better on a limited income receive: training, a tax free $2.65 per hour stipend, mileage to and from their volunteer station, hugs & smiles from the children and staff support. Make a difference in 2007 by calling 541-758-5951 or 1-800-695-7505.

Be a Volunteer Tutor!! Make a Difference for an Adult Learner!!
New Tutor Training will be held on two Saturdays, January 20 and January 27, 2007, from 9-4 PM, at Linn Benton Community College, Albany Campus, in Luckiamute Center, Room 116. There is no charge for this training. For more information contact Diane Goudriaan at 541-917-4713 or Linda Burke at 541-917-4714.

Be a Catalyst for Social Change
Do you want to help people flee domestic violence? Would you like to end sexual assault? Do you have a few spare hours per week? Become a CARDV Volunteer! Contact Jennifer Stevenson at 541-758-0219 or cardv1@yahoo.com

Valley AIDS Information Network
VAIN needs non judgmental volunteers who can learn by reading. Our nonprofit hotline gives information, support and referrals for HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and hepatitis. Training is provided. You would volunteer from your home in Albany or Corvallis. You could also serve at our information booth at public events. Phone 745-5811 for more information.

LINN COUNTY
Blood pressure checks
Volunteers are needed to take and record blood pressure for residents at Quail Run Assisted Living Facility (part of Mennonite Village in Albany). Staff identify residents who need BPs taken and provides BP cuff and stethoscope for volunteer’s
use. Mondays or Saturdays, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Must be able to work independently and hear well. Call Teresa Moser at 928-7232.

Salvation Army
Seeking help in the office or working with the teen program. Occasionally need assistance sorting food for local food boxes. The Salvation Army is helping people with emergency assistance in both counties. Call Lt. Ida Cowan at 928-4774.

Samaritan Health Services
Samaritan was awarded a two-year grant for a Chronic Care Grant Project to work on development of a coordinated approach for the care of patients with diabetes, heart disease, asthma and COPD who live in Linn and Benton counties. Volunteers are needed to help with research, advocacy and/or program development. Call the grant coordinator, Carole Kment at Lebanon Samaritan Hospital at 451-6466.

Albany Area Habitat ReStore
Volunteer Opportunities including cashiers, loading/receiving clerks and data entry clerks are available now at the Habitat ReStore in Tangent. We are looking for an individual who is able to volunteer frequently and consistently if possible. Outgoing, energetic, customer oriented individuals interested in being part of the Habitat team should contact Shelly Stevenson at 924-1450 for more information or stop by the store at 34177 Hwy 99E, Tangent, OR 97389

Linn-Benton Community College Library
Are you a bookworm? Is your idea of a perfect rainy day spent browsing the stacks of your local library and enjoying the literary ambience? Our library is moving in June, and we are seeking assistance with deprocessing books, taking things apart, stamping books, deselecting materials that are out of date, working on the
computer (searching and deleting), shelving, dusting, and working in circulation checking out books. For more information, contact Jorry Rolfe or other Library staff at 541-917-4638.

BENTON COUNTY
Corvallis Benton Chamber Coalition
Volunteers needed for general office help for greeters, bulk mail assistance and special events. Call Mary McKillop for more information at 757-15056

RSVP Volunteer Provides
Wisdom and Guidance

By Denise Magee
Carolyn Brumley, a Benton County Senior Health Insurance
Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) volunteer, came in recently to talk
with RSVP about the program and the role she shares with fellow
SHIBA volunteers. Like many volunteers in Carolyn’s age
cohort—she is 61 and a forerunner of the Baby Boomer generation—she is very humble and self-effacing about her talents and the time and knowledge she shares in her community.
SHIBA, sponsored locally by RSVP, is a program that counsels
Medicare-eligible persons by providing information and advocacy
on available services, guiding clients toward individual insurance
choices. Carolyn is one of eight SHIBA volunteers working
in Benton County. She is enthusiastic about the program and the
group of “incredible” volunteers she works with. The unique
aspect about their group, she believes, is that each SHIBA volunteer gleans some new information through a different learning style and in turn shares this knowledge in a collaborative spirit, bringing an altruistic approach to aiding people with Medicare questions.
During open enrollment for Medicare Part D, which finished on
December 31, 2007, the volunteers worked Monday and Wednesday afternoons at the Senior Center counseling people. Isabel Harvey, a veteran SHIBA counselor, also makes home visits to seniors when necessary. Isabel and Marcia Reeder developed a spreadsheet for different Medicare plans for Benton County, simplifying the process to allow clients to make comparative choices. Clients include people who want to change plans, people who have just turned 65 and are seeking guidance through the process, and people seeking help in interpreting communications from Medicare and Social Security. As Carolyn explains the procedure, “clients make their own choices; we lead them through the analytical process.”
Carolyn moved from San Luis Obispo, California in 1993. She was employed at OSU for 11 years until her retirement. Six
months before her retirement, she was approached by Don Jones, an OSU math professor and SHIBA counselor for recruitment for the program. “Don thought I would be good for the job because, ‘I’m public spirited,’” she said. She found the initial 3-day training for SHIBA overwhelming and said, “I came away with more questions than I started with.” Carolyn says the learning curve continues and most SHIBA counselors spend study time updating announcements from the state and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in order to remain current in changing policies and insurance plan options.
Carolyn saw volunteer work as a natural extension of her career at OSU working with the public. She wanted more community
involvement and made a concerted effort to get to know people
in other sectors of the community. When asked about recruiting
volunteers in her cohort, she suggested people look outside
of their immediate vicinity and said, “This is the rest of your
community.” She comes by her volunteer ethic naturally, citing
her family as actively involved in volunteer projects. As a young
child, she was involved in youth programs and recalls at an early
age sanding building blocks for the orphanage. She and her husband travel once a year to Belize for a working vacation where her sister lives and is involved in volunteer organizations with community works. “It makes you not be a tourist, you get to meet people.” She was in Camp Fire and Girl Scouts as a young girl and took on a leadership role for Bluebirds and Cub Scouts when her children were growing up.
When she retired, Carolyn wanted to do something helpful and SHIBA seemed like a good idea. “Volunteers are “people” people; I like people, meeting people,” she says. There was a need, and she chose to fill that need through volunteerism. And
her testimony supports this trend across the nation: “You walk
in thinking there is this government program without enough staff—so there is a pool of volunteers across the country—thousands.”
In her spare time, she enjoys travel, politics, government policy, and being a member of the League of Women Voters. But
she says her greatest satisfaction comes from using her “creative
energy,” and enjoys working with the Quilts for Caring Hands
group.
As she was leaving, Carolyn shared a childhood expression
she grew up with and has since passed on to her own children:
“When you have money, you give money. When you have time,
you give time.”