Young enough to serve

The “graying of the Peace Corps” has more of a light “salt-and-pepper” look. But what started out as a young-adult service movement is showing new signs of wisdom. The current 500 volunteers over 50 years of age make up about 8% of the full Peace Corps complement of volunteers.

And there is an intentional effort to recruit older volunteers. Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet hopes that in the near future they can say 15% of volunteers are over age 50.

“We love having older volunteers who bring a lot to the table — a wealth of skills and tested maturity that allow them to make a difference in a community.”

For instance, older volunteers often have positions with more responsibility. MS Osborn is 73. He is a Peace Corps volunteer helping to run a catering company that employs people with disabilities in the Eastern European country of Moldova. (retiredbrains.com/join-the-peace-corps)

My intent today isn’t an all-out pitch to recruit persons for the Peace Corps. But I do want to use the “salt-and-pepper” volunteers to stand as a model of how older adults can serve others well into their graying years. Next Tuesday, the Geezer Forum participants will see that in action.

One year ago, Paul and Kerri Rodkey returned from a two-year stint as Peace Corps volunteers in Botswana, Africa. They had just recently retired when they made their journey. From Spokane, Paul is a retired pastor and Kerri is a retired community developer.

Their particular experiences of life-service to others found a new expression in the Peace Corps. Their story of what they experienced, learned, and how they were challenged will, I’m sure, will be both inspirational and instructive to us.

For some years, the motto for my Elder Advocates work has been “Gray hair and wrinkles are not a fashion statement. They are a values statement.”

This is certainly true when we think about how older adults serve other persons in kaleidoscopic ways. (Turn the kaleidoscope just a touch, and you can see a nearly-new way of service unfolding through a smile or offer to help from a geezer-in-training!)

One of the wisdom-pieces I keep returning to is an essay called “Belonging.” It was written by Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen in her book “My Grandfather’s Blessing.” She speaks of how we need to recover from the excessive emphasis on self-reliance, self-determination and self-sufficiency.

“Should I live to be very old, I expect that I will not remember the times when I was “cool” but will be warmed only by the times when I cared passionately, risked everything to make a difference, and knew who I was … In order to live well, we may need to know and trust one another again. To touch and be touched by those around us. Service is the way that this world can heal.

True service is not a relationship between an expert and a problem; it is far more genuine than that. It is a relationship between people who bring the full resources of their combined humanity to the table and share them generously. Service goes beyond experience. Service is another way life.” (from “Belonging”, Dr. Remen)

Regardless of our ages, life is more fulfilling when we can serve another person in simple, authentic ways, friends! I think you will get a hint of that when you meet Paul and Kerri Rodkey, retiree Peace Corps volunteers. Next Tuesday, September 24, 2:30-4 p.m. in the Community Room of Columbia Bank. Please join us.

Paul Graves, M.Div., is lead geezer-in-training for Elder Advocates, a consulting ministry on aging issues. Contact Paul at 208-610-4971 or elderadvocates@nctv.com.