President John F. Kennedy’s famous exhortation, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” is as apt today as it was in 1961. And as a wave of scientific research reveals the surprising physical and psychological benefits of community involvement, one might now add, “Ask what you can do for your country, and what doing it can do for you.”
Helping Others, Helping Yourself
As the country’s economic crisis sparks a sharp increase in the demand for social services, grandparents are rallying to meet the critical needs of charitable organizations and reaping the rewards of increased self-esteem and well-being. “Volunteering is a way to make everything in your life better,” says Sandy Scott of the federal Corporation for National and Community Service, which is charged with empowering millions of Americans to help those in need. Those benefits, Scott says, range “from improving your health to expanding your knowledge, and feeling the joy that comes from service.”
Long-term studies show that people who volunteer live longer, have lower rates of depression, and even have less incidence of heart disease than those who don’t. In fact, Americans older than fifty gain greater benefits from performing community service than younger people do, partly because volunteer work offers a significant buffer against the physical, social, and psychological declines that can accompany aging.
Selfless But Empowering Work
“When you have a job or are running your own business, or when your kids are still in the house, you are in a place where you’re needed every day, busy with something that makes you feel important,” says my father-in-law Richard Abedon, 74, of West Palm Beach, Fla. He is a retired attorney and insurance executive who volunteers with the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County and the Urban League, and sits on the boards of trustees of the Florida Stage theatre, the Good Samaritan Hospital, and social-service agency The Glades Initiative. He says he defines “free time” as the hours you spend giving “freely” of yourself to those in need.
