All ages can make a difference by volunteering

Funding cuts to Oklahoma Aging Services are prompting an unprecedented need for more volunteers to assist state seniors, officials indicate.

“Over the past two fiscal years, DHS has been forced to reduce more than $80 million from the agency’s operation budget and cut more than 1,200 positions statewide,” DHS Director Ed Lake said in an announcement.

Funds cut from Aging Services were more than $8 million in 2016 and another $4.5 million in 2017, said Karen Poteet, interim Aging Services director.

So, with these cuts in Aging Services’ budgets, requests for volunteers are going out.

“Volunteers and charitable community organizations have always been essential to bolstering the availability of these services, particularly in rural areas, and they are increasingly so in these challenging budgetary times,” DHS spokesman Jeff M. Wagner said.

“Unfortunately, many of these services require considerable state and federal funding, which is beyond the capabilities of churches and charities to provide. The gap between government-funded services and what communities and volunteers are able to provide is only growing wider with every budget cut,” Wagner noted.

"DHS has tried to provide some supplemental funding for aging services’ programs ... to assist volunteers with mileage and stipends. But, when budget-revenue failures started and staff and programs were being cut, this funding was eliminated,” he said.

Sunbeam Family Services

At Sunbeam Family Services in Oklahoma City, “volunteers are so important to our mission — especially in times of funding cuts across our state,” board Chairman Tony Welch said.

“When it comes to volunteering, age doesn’t matter either! We need help from seniors. Everyone can play a role in changing a life. Volunteerism also provides tremendous benefits to the volunteer,” he said.

“In fact, a recent study showed that 100 percent of individuals in our ‘Senior Companion’ programs stated that volunteering gives them a sense of purpose and meaning in their life,” Welch said.

Bethany Marshall, 28, plans to volunteer at Sunbeam’s next fundraising Shine-A-Light gala in 2018 — where one of the organization’s’ top four goals — seniors' needs — will be discussed. One is grandparents raising grandchildren.

Marshall is a member of The Beacons, young professionals who assist Sunbeam staff. Sunbeam has a senior shelter where displaced seniors can live for a short time.

Senior volunteers make difference

Ethel B. and James Broiles, both 69, of Oklahoma City, are the kinds of Oklahomans needed as senior volunteers.

After an AARP safety fair in Tulsa, they decided to become a team of Fraud Fighters; they teach other seniors how to protect themselves from so-called “scammers.”

“My mom and dad taught us the importance of service and giving back to the community. It began with our local church family and our very close-knit neighborhood,” Ethel Broiles said.

“Each year, our company would always have a United Way campaign, and I would eagerly volunteer as the spokesperson for our office and department as time went on. I saw firsthand the need for more than just donating monies. I was able to motivate others, as well, to give of their time,” she stressed.

RSVP of Central Oklahoma

RSVP of Central Oklahoma, meanwhile, needs volunteers immediately in these areas:

•Tutoring children in reading and math.

•Helping children get immunized.

•Mentoring children of incarcerated parents.

•Participating in neighborhood watch programs.

•Planting community gardens.

•Building houses.

•Providing professional services to nonprofit organizations