Carol Bowen walked into her office for the last time Friday as the director of Schuylkill County’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
“What’s ironic is that it was exactly 24 years ago today I first walked in here,” Bowen said.
After 24 years in the position, Bowen is retiring as director of the program but will continue to volunteer in the community.
“I didn’t even look at it as a job,” Bowen said. “I have a passion for volunteering and there is such a need out there that I won’t stop volunteering.”
Sponsored through the Office of Senior Services, RSVP recruits volunteers age 55 and older for a variety of volunteer needs throughout the county. The Schuylkill County program started in 1984. Since then, the county’s volunteers have contributed more than 1.58 million hours of volunteer service with dozens of nonprofit organizations, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, libraries, food banks, animal shelters and human service agencies throughout the county. Volunteers contribute an average of 52,000 hours each year. The program currently has 326 volunteers, Bowen said.
“Carol has done a great job for the county and all the residents who have benefited from those services, especially ours at the Office of Senior Services,” Georgene Fedoriska, executive director of the county Office of Senior Services, said Wednesday. “A lot of things were accomplished through her efforts.”
RSVP provides volunteers for a variety of services in the county. For example, some people are physically unable to take buses to doctor appointments and there are volunteers who drive them to hospitals outside the county. Other services like Meals on Wheels would cost too much to operate without volunteers, Bowen said. Volunteers can also form a personal connection with the person they are providing services to and check on their well being, she said.
“That is the difference between what a volunteer can do and government can do,” Bowen said. “We are filling in the gaps where services might not be available.”
Over the course of 24 years, Bowen said program guidelines have changed and the Corporation for National and Community Service has shifted its focus to measurable services. Volunteers now have to go through training and file reports. More work has affected volunteer numbers, Bowen said.
“The program providers require a bit of a different commitment than before,” Bowen said.
Although there is always a need for more, the county program has consistently had more than 300 volunteers over the past several years. Bowen said she has worked with more than 1,000 different volunteers over her 24 years as director of the program.
“I think part of it is the nature of Schuylkill County,” Bowen said. “People want to reach out and help each other. I also think it is part of human nature to want to work together. There are a lot of people with good hearts out there and they want to help and I’m hoping that never changes.”
As the county still searches for a replacement, Bowen said she looks forward to seeing someone bring fresh energy and ideas to the volunteer program. Bowen offered advice to whoever takes over.
“Just make the program your own and have fun with it because the volunteers are wonderful people,” she said.
On Wednesday, the commissioners presented Bowen with a proclamation thanking her for her years of service with the county.
“We know we are not losing you because now you will be on the volunteer side of it,” commissioners Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. said. “It takes a special person to recruit people and get them engaged in the community and you have done that better than anyone I know.”
“I have been here for 14 years and Carol has done an excellent job at RSVP and we appreciate her service,” Commissioner Frank J. Staudenmeier said.
“Government can not do things alone and this program definitely shows volunteerism at its best,” Commissioner Gary J. Hess said. “It is a fantastic program and you put your heart and soul into it and it will continue to grow with the legacy you left with it.”
For more information about volunteering with RSVP, call the Office of Senior Services at 570-622-3103.