RSVP: Your Invitation To Volunteer

Today, we highlight the work of RSVP through Senior Services Southwest Michigan.  RSVP was recently honored at the seventh annual Champ celebration.  CIS Board Member Steve Powell, along with Emily Demorest, CIS Site Coordinator at Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts, presented the award. 

Communities In Schools has been fortunate to reap the skills and wisdom of the many senior volunteers that have come to us over the last eleven years, courtesy of RSVP Senior Services. RSVP, Your Invitation to Volunteer, is a national service program of the Senior Corps that recruits adults 55 and better into service throughout our community. The partnership between RSVP Senior Services and Communities In Schools began in 2003 and since then, we have learned we can count on the leadership of the twoTracys. Tracie Wheeler, Director for RSVP of Senior Services and Traci Furman, Special Projects Coordinator for RSVP work seamlessly to recruit RSVP volunteers which enables CIS to place these reliable individuals at elementary and secondary buildings, tutoring, mentoring and inspiring our young people.

Here are a few snapshots of some of the committed volunteers the two Tracys have brought us:

Retired from 31 years of teaching, Barb Gillespie can be found at Woods Lake helping after school with Kalamazoo Kids in Tune, a program done in partnership among the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Public Schools, and Communities In Schools. There she is learning violin alongside first graders. “I enjoy making my own music and it is important,” she says, “to always have a purpose in life.” She volunteers as part of the “Live To Give” lifestyle that she espouses. “Volunteering helps me feel complete at the end of the day,” she says.
Kevin Lavender Jr, CIS Site Coordinator at Hillside Middle School says this of RSVP volunteer, Charlie Anderson: “Mr. Charlie is part of the CIS and KPS family at Hillside. Mr. Charlie finds ways to relate to students and does a great job supporting CIS staff with student engagement in activities and group discussions. It’s really cool to see an elder in our community reach out to the youth and be intentional about building relationships with them and helping them explore the possibilities in life. I think every school should have a Mr. Charlie!”

In fact, thanks to RSVP most of our schools do have a Mr. Charlie although they may be known as Marti Terpstra, Dick Glass, Jeanne Church, and countless others who impart a passion for life long learning. In a sense, every RSVP volunteer is, for our children, a living, breathing lesson on how to live. In the last two years alone, RSVP has provided us with 29 volunteers and they have served in 11 CIS school sites as well as volunteering for office support, helping with Friday Food Packs, and special literacy events. That translates into 2,451 hours of service.

RSVP Senior Services, we thank you for helping kids stay in school and achieve in life. 

Tags: Barb Gillespie, Charlie Anderson, Dick Glass, Emily Demorest, Friday Food packs, giving back, Hillside Middle School, Jeanne Church, Kalamazoo Public Schools, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Kevin Lavender Jr, Kids in Tune, Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts, Marti Terpstra, RSVP through Senior Services Southwest Michigan, Sr. Elizabeth Fallon, Steve Powell, Traci Furman, Tracie Wheeler, volunteering