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Catalogue Blog

A Day in the Volunteer Life: Iona Senior Services

Written by Nancy Erickson, Communications Coordinator of the Catalogue for Philanthropy

Loneliness has become an epidemic. It’s increasingly common and can have seriously negative effects on our physical and cognitive health — research has even suggested that it’s as equally dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. What’s more, our society’s elderly are particularly vulnerable.

One organization working to combat social isolation among older people is Iona Senior Services. This nonprofit provides comprehensive support to those who are “aging in place.” They run errands, prepare meals, manage money, and provide anything else older adults need to live and thrive in their own homes. Iona also implements community programs to encourage social engagement, where participants can talk with their friends, meet new people, go on field trips around DC, share meals, and enjoy classes about various topics. Iona’s Active Wellness Program at St. Albans not only uplifts seniors’ spirits, but also their health. Iona’s work is made possible by their committed staff and team of volunteers. Recently I had the privilege of being one of those volunteers!

It was a rainy Wednesday morning when I arrived at St. Albans Parish on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral. Inside Satterlee Hall, I entered a large room with a vaulted ceiling where I was greeted by staff and fellow volunteers. People sometimes joke that their cubicle feels like a closet — at this particular location, Iona Senior Services literally does operate out of a closet! Every possible inch of space was strategically packed like a game of Tetris.

Iona 2

In preparation for incoming participants, we set up tables for lunch and chairs for the exercise class. Some friendly, enthusiastic ladies started arriving for the day’s programming. Over cups of coffee we got into a lively discussion about how the Kennedy Center is too expensive. Although there were other tasks to be done as well, I would come to learn that much of volunteering for Iona Senior Services is just socializing with nice people.

Iona 3

At 10:15, it was time for that day’s field trip: The Smithsonian Postal Museum! Courtney, the St. Albans Program Manager, asked me to join her and a small group of women to come along for the ride. We piled into a van and set off. It felt rather like a private bus tour of DC since Courtney has an incredible encyclopedic knowledge of the city’s history. So many fun factoids!

We arrived at the museum; I had taken the day off work to volunteer, yet now I was coincidentally back across the street from the Catalogue office. The visit was a charming diversion. We leisurely wandered through the history of the American postal system, learning about the various innovations and services the post office has provided us over the years. The women chuckled when I asked what a money order was.

Our last stop was the stamps room. It is far more interesting than some might give it credit for; one could easily spend hours examining designs and rare mistakes. Our group dedicated our short time to the international section. It included stamps for some nations which don’t even exist anymore! A few of the ladies were delighted to look at stamps from their countries of origin.

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We returned to Satterlee Hall, where tables were filled with people halfway through lunch. The meal had been served by other volunteers, including some young women from American University. Because this was their final day after having volunteered for multiple weeks, they gave a public thank you and goodbye speech to the participants. After a round of applause, a man complimented one of the students, saying that she looked just like Amy Carter. She asked, “Who?”

After lunch, I helped clean up dishes, tablecloths, and decorations. It was very important to place items back into the correct spots in the closet so that everything fit! At 12:35, Courtney began a class for participants on “The Art of Writing,” a discussion on language structure and history. People seemed engaged and enthusiastic about the topic. My shift for the day was done, so I said my goodbyes and headed on my way.

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We all need more community and connection in our lives. Iona is making that local community possible; many of the people I spoke with that day lived within a few blocks of St. Albans, or as we like to say at the Catalogue “hyperlocal.” These programs are an opportunity for them to make new friends and spend time with old ones. I felt honored to participate and meet some altruistic and caring individuals. All in all, the volunteer experience felt rather like spending the day with a beloved grandmother: relaxed, pleasant, and rewarding.

If you can make a commitment to come consistently and make connections, then please consider finding a volunteer opportunity with Iona Senior Services:

  • The Active Wellness Program at St Albans. This is what I did. Come on weekdays to greet people, serve lunch, set up classes and meals, and go on field trips around DC!
  • Weekend Meal Packing and Delivery Time. On Saturday mornings, Iona needs volunteers on a recurring basis to prepare and deliver meals to older adults in their homes. Like all volunteer positions, this is an opportunity to form personal relationships and provide social connection to people living alone.
  • Wellness & Arts Center. Volunteers here help out during the week with adults with less mobility by sharing specific skills as possible, helping out with lunchtime, and general support for recreational activities.
  • Friendly Visitors Program. Make friends with older people by visiting them in their homes, help with reading, and run general errands.
  • Administration. Iona can usually use volunteers to help with tasks involving office and computer work.

ASAS DC Engages STEM Professionals to Enhance Afterschool Programs

Written by Patrick Giblin, Development & Marketing Manager of After-School All-Stars, Washington DC

After-School All-Stars, Washington DC (ASAS DC) is a local charity focused on providing free after-school programs to low-income DC middle schools. A unique element of ASAS DC’s programming is our heavy emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, more affectionately referred to as STEM in the education sector. Across three DC wards and six schools, hundreds of students experience our free STEM offerings in the afterschool space every weeknight. Those offerings include classes such as digital photography, drone engineering, video game design, coding, real estate development and environmental science.

In addition to those classes this year, we have two dedicated “STEM Clubs” at Stuart-Hobson and John Hayden Johnson Middle Schools, where students can engage in purely STEM-related activities. Based on our participants’ interests, “STEM kits” and related curricula were acquired from the National Energy Education Development (NEED). NEED provides ample resources and training for our instructors to create quality STEM classes, and ASAS DC is uniquely positioned to implement the classes, providing it to students who need it the most. All-star’s students have consistently expressed an interest in environmental/conservation topics related to STEM, and as a result several of the NEED STEM kits are focused on alternative energy and environmental science.

ASAS DC sought to provide appropriate complements to these offerings, which is why we engaged with two leading organizations in the field. This past October and November, our chapter hosted two STEM-themed employee volunteer events with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Bechtel, respectively.

Specifically, scientists and education specialists from NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, Education and Community Involvement Branch visited Stuart-Hobson MS in October. They spent an afternoon with our students, sharing information on their work and completing three hands-on activities designed to educate youth on DNA and science more broadly. Students scraped their cheek cells and examined them under NIH microscopes, they extracted DNA from strawberries using a technique demonstrated by the science professionals, and completed a watercolor activity revolving around the shape and code within a DNA double helix. Fifteen ASAS DC students were exposed to high-level and engaging science subjects; they expressed interest in the scientists’ jobs and showed a desire to work with the microscopes every day!

ASAS-DC NIH

A consistent aspect of our program has always been career exposure. Regardless of professional sector, it is important that our students are connected to reputable professionals who can not only describe their current work, but also their journey and obstacles they’ve had to overcome in order to be where they are now. Many of our students had not considered the possibility that they could do something like this for a living prior to this NIH engagement, which is why this exposure is invaluable.

Less than a month later, ASAS DC was contacted by the global engineering company Bechtel. Keith Hennessey, president of Bechtel Enterprises, serves on the board of ASAS DC. He also serves as an Executive Sponsor of Women@Bechtel, a business resource group within the company meant to promote the development of women’s careers. Members of this group expressed an interest in skills-based volunteering with underserved youth. What resulted was another successful collaboration in the same style as the NIH event that preceded it — this time dedicated to the engineering portion of STEM.

Four Bechtel engineers presented in front of a group of 15 Stuart-Hobson students in early November. Bechtel Fellow Kit Ng shared a presentation on Bechtel’s water treatment work. The presentation had tremendous resonance with our students who are extremely passionate about climate change issues, and they asked several questions about water filtration systems in the developing world as a result.

To bring this material to life, Bechtel provided a hands-on experiment very similar to NIH. Students split into teams and tested several water filtration techniques using materials brought in by the engineers. Students compared each solution, (grass, pebbles, coffee filters, cloth, etc.) and based on the information presented to them earlier, were able to discern which materials filtered the clearest water. These realizations were related to the earlier presentation of Bechtel doing the same work on a larger scale. With that connection, students had a newfound respect for this work. Not only increasing the quality of life for underserved communities but doing it an efficient and environmentally-friendly manner was of great interest to our youth. Bechtel staff were pleased to see this interest, and several of the students even asked about internships with the organization!

ASAS-DC Bechtel

STEM is a complex and nuanced subject matter that lends itself to hands-on work. Any letter in that acronym is associated with high-level and detailed academic information. ASAS DC prides itself on effectively teaching these subjects to adolescent students in an engaging way and age-appropriate way. We cannot do that without the support of our partners and external organizations such as NIH and Bechtel. Not only do they possess the resources and expertise, but their respective staff genuinely care about underserved youth and are happy to volunteer their time in order to convey some of their experience to our students. Most importantly, our students are shown a clear path to success in these fields by having direct access to professionals who are eager to support them. We are humbled to be a part of that collective effort and will continue to use all resources at our disposal to provide the most impactful and highest quality experience to adolescents in the District of Columbia.