RSVP

Want to Make an Impact in Our Community? Join RSVP.

Are you age 55 + and looking for the best volunteer fit for you in our community?

RSVP 55+ volunteers serve in a variety of non-profits in Monroe and Owen Counties, using their experiences and knowledge.

Volunteer options include regular weekly activities, “one and done” community events, or a no-commitment weekly drop-in volunteer site.  Get started with a one-on-one interview with the RSVP program manager to help you find a volunteer role based on your unique interests, talents, and availability. Let us help you find your fit and join over 200 other volunteers to build our community.

RSVP is a program of AmeriCorps, a federal agency connecting individuals and organizations through service and volunteering to tackle the nation’s most pressing challenges.

RSVP staff can assist you in finding volunteer roles based on your unique interests, talents, and availability. RSVP also celebrates your service, and demonstrates its power by sharing our collective volunteer impact with national, state, and local agencies.

If you are currently an active volunteer, you can register with RSVP without taking on additional volunteer responsibilities. When you are registered with RSVP and report hours, we include your service in the data that we share, to focus attention and important resources on the areas where we have the greatest impact.

The RSVP Office Provides

  • Information about volunteer needs in the area
  • Personalized suggestions for volunteering based on your background
  • Weekly Volunteer Center for drop-in volunteering (see details below)
  • Email notices of one-time special events
  • Supplemental insurance while volunteering
  • Annual awards luncheon to celebrate volunteerism

Healthy Futures
  • Supporting seniors who are aging in place
  • Promoting healthy living
  • Serving those facing end-of-life through hospice
  • Collecting food for families facing emergency situations
Education
  • Tutoring, Teacher’s aids, School libraries, Helping with events
Capacity Building
  • Raising funds through thrift shop sales to support childcare scholarships
Veterans
  • Helping veterans access VA benefits
  • Supporting veterans living at home as long as they are able
Community Priorities
  • Using volunteer expertise and talent to meet needs in the community

Caring Companions

Caring Companion volunteers make friendly visits to isolated people who are older and/or have a disability. A wide range of services is offered, from housekeeping to conversation, based on the needs of the neighbor and the interests of the volunteer. Thoughtful matches are made based on the abilities, preferences, and home locations of both people.

Knit–n-Stitch

RSVP volunteers knit, sew or crochet a wide variety of items for those in need: stuffed hug-a-bears, lap robes, hats, mittens for children in crisis, patients undergoing chemotherapy, premature newborns, and elders. Much of this creative work is completed at home, but weekly gatherings provide a time for socializing, if desired.

Bulk Mail Team

RSVP’s bulk mail team provides services to local nonprofit agencies. They help with stapling, folding, labeling, and sorting bulk mailing of all varieties. Led by an RSVP volunteer who is retired from the bulk mailing department of the post office, this group is a treasured community resource for a wide variety of agencies.

Opportunity House

Opportunity House, located at 907 W. 11th Street, is a thrift store run nearly entirely by RSVP volunteers, from the management to the cashiers. In partnership with Monroe County United Ministries (MCUM), Opp House serves the community by promoting environmental sustainability through repair, re-purposing, and re-use of all types of household items and clothing. Opp House is open to anyone who wishes to shop there, but is proud to reach out to those who are in financial crisis or who have experienced a personal disaster, by providing household items and clothing to them without charge.

Intergenerational Project

Working in conjunction with The Campus Children’s Center at Indiana University, RSVP volunteers visit and regularly interact with infants and preschoolers who attend the childcare center. In doing so, the volunteers provide these children with access to and companionship with an age group that the children often are lacking in their daily lives. Volunteers assist with classroom activities, read books, tell stories, and rock babies, developing friendships with the youngsters that strengthen their knowledge of the past and their awareness of the importance of diversity. Occasionally, volunteers are needed as interviewees to measure the importance of intergenerational relationships.

RSVP 55+ Volunteer Center

RSVP Drop-In Sites: Bloomington and Spencer – Join us for weekly no-commitment needed volunteering! Come one week, every week, or as often as you feel like it. We sit around tables and work on projects like stuffing teddy bears for kids who are having surgery. Both sites are accessible and have no stairs.

AmeriCorps Seniors logo

Area 10 is an AmeriCorps Seniors grantee and receives funds through their RSVP program. AmeriCorps is the federal agency connecting individuals and organizations through service and volunteering to tackle the nation’s most pressing challenges. For more information, visit AmeriCorps.gov.

Links

RSVP 55+ Volunteer Center

RSVP Drop-In Sites: Bloomington and Spencer – Join us for weekly no-commitment needed volunteering! Come one week, every week, or as often as you feel like it. We sit around tables and work on projects like stuffing teddy bears for kids who are having surgery. Both sites are accessible and have no stairs.

We Ask You…

We ask registered RSVP volunteers to track their time spent volunteering to help us demonstrate the power of volunteers to local, state, and federal agencies: Register for RSVP (click through here) Send each month’s service hours to awardlow@area10agency.org Let us know what agency you volunteered with, and what you did (for example, office support, Board of Directors, serving meals, cleaning cages, etc.) If you served in more than one role during the month, let us know what your hours were for each role.