The Bridge Builder

RSVP of Alachua County

Fall 2010 XXXVIII

Station Spotlight and Call for Volunteers!

Altrusa House

Are you still a kid at heart and love to have a good time? Well why not do so while

making someone else’s day a little brighter? Call Ruth (264-6752) today to learn more

about becoming an Activities Assistant at Altrusa House. They are looking for

individuals to help plan and implement their morning and afternoon activities. Some of

the activities offered to clients include: physical exercise, music therapy, arts and

crafts, garden club, reading group, pet therapy, intergenerational activities, guest speakers, daily walks, etc.

Easter Seals at Altrusa House is a daycare program for adults, age 18 and up, with disabilities or other

special needs. Easter Seals’ Adult Day Services meet the challenging demands of today’s families by addressing

the rapidly growing need for quality adult and elder day care. They help adults who are frail, at risk of falling

and/or at risk of long-term placement. Adult Day Care Services provide a protective environment for those

who cannot be left home alone and provides much needed socialization for a normally home-bound client. In

addition, proper nutrition is provided through balanced meals at breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack.

Nursing services such as medication management, health screening and restorative nursing help to improve

and/or maintain a client’s medical condition. At Easter Seals, our mission is to

provide exceptional services to ensure that all people with disabilities or special needs

and their families have equal opportunities to live, learn, work and play in their

communities. There are spaces available if you know people that need this kind of

service!

Debbie Shea

We hope everyone has been having a nice summer. Please remember to keep hydrated and drink plenty of

water during this incredible hot weather we’re having.

This past quarter 462 of you served 21,852.55 hours. That is fantastic! It always amazes me when I see the

final volunteer hours you serve every quarter. This community is truly blessed to have so many dedicated

volunteers who give so generously of their time and talent.

We are in the last 2 months of our fiscal year. It will be very important for the volunteers who mail their time

sheets into the office, to get them to us as early as you can. I know the timesheet says they are due Sept. 25th

,

but please send them in before that. You can put the time you are scheduled to volunteer after the 25th

on

the timesheet. Any timesheets mailed later than Sept. 25th

will get to us too late. Each one of your time

sheets are important to us, so be sure to get them to us. Ruth will be picking them up from the stations early,

as well. Our Fiscal Year ends September 30th

. If we don’t receive your time sheets on time, we will not be able

to record your hours or reimburse for travel to those who request it.

Have a wonderful Summer and we hope to see you in the Fall. Thank you for all you do! We Appreciate

You!!! ☺

A special THANK YOU to the businesses who sponsored this year’s

awards!

HAVEN HOSPICE AND NORTH FLORIDA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

New Transportation Policy

During our recent program audit it was brought to our attention that there must be mileage documentation on file for all volunteers requesting mileage reimbursement.

As a result of this audit, a new transportation policy has been written and will be effective October 1, 2010. RSVP staff will now use www.mapquest.com to verify roundtrip mileage (from home to site and back home) for those requesting reimbursement.

We understand that mapquest is not always precise; therefore, we will allow a 5 mile leeway. If your previous requests were in the allowable range, there is no need for you to make any changes. If your mileage is outside the 5 mile leeway, staff will contact you.

CCCCurrent Volunteer Opportunitiesurrent Volunteer Opportunitiesurrent Volunteer Opportunitiesurrent Volunteer Opportunities

We Need Your Help!!!We Need Your Help!!!We Need Your Help!!!We Need Your Help!!!

Volunteer Tutors with the Alachua County Library District’s Literacy Program: Work one-to-one with an adult

or child in any local library to help them improve their academic skills &/or obtain their GED. A minimum of 1

hour per week is required. Up to 25 volunteers needed. This is a well organized and supportive program with

tutor training and materials provided.

Volunteer Tutors for the Reichert House work at least one hour per day with one or two assigned boys grades

6-12 on homework and academic skills. This is a wonderful and highly structured program which has

demonstrated high levels of success with these children. Up to 35 volunteers needed to serve 1-3 hours per

day, 4 days per week.

Volunteer Instructors needed to work in pairs with Elder Options to teach persons aged 60+ courses called

Memory Training, and A Matter of Balance. Classes run 2-2.5 hours per week for 5-6 weeks. Training is

provided for instructors 2 hours per week for 8 weeks. Six-twelve volunteers needed.

Telephone Eligibility Follow-up Consultants needed for Alachua County’s CHOICES program which is a health

services program offered by the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners designed to help uninsured

residents of Alachua County stay healthy. Four to five hours of training will be provided to volunteers. Up to 4

volunteers are needed ½ day per week.

Aquatic Instructor needed for the Arthritis Foundation’s movement classes in local pools. Persons with

arthritis benefit from movement in water by increasing circulation, strength and range of motion. Six week

classes are taught 2 days per week. One-two volunteers needed. Fees for training instructors are covered.

Home Delivered Meals Would you like to help deliver meals to home-bound seniors? Do you have 1-2 hours

per week? Well get started and deliver what could be someone’s only hot meal for the day!

Contact Ruth O’Conner @ 352.264.6752 if interested in any of the above

opportunities!

Florida Master Money Mentor (FMMM) program is provided by the University of Florida IFAS and Alachua County Extension Service.

The program is a coordinated referral network in which trained volunteer mentors provide basic personal finance coaching to individuals and families. Mentors will receive training in September. Social service agencies, church groups and other organizations are encouraged to enlist volunteers to expand the services they already provide.

There is no fee for the 20 hours of training. Training dates are scheduled for September 7th, 8th, 14th, & 15th from 1p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Extension office (2800 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville).

Applications will be taken and interviews held during August. For an application visit: http://alachua.ifas.ufl.edu and click on Florida Money Mentor program.

For more information, contact the Alachua County Extension Office at 352-955-2402.

Community Emergency Response Team

The Alachua County Public Safety Department's Division of Emergency

Management is now enrolling citizens in its Community Emergency

Response Team (CERT) Program.

CERT teaches citizens how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from

disasters. The next CERT class is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, September 7, 2010

and runs through October 19, 2010.

"It is never too late to begin preparing for the 2010 Hurricane Season," said Emergency

Management Chief David Donnelly, "and there's no better way than to attend the CERT

program."

The seven-week class is free-of-charge to the public and covers the following topics:

• Disaster Preparedness • Fire Safety • Disaster Medical Operations • Light Search and Rescue Operations • CERT Organization and Disaster Psychology • Terrorism and CERT

The seven classes are on Tuesday evenings, and each session runs from 6:00 p.m. to

8:30 p.m. Classes are held at the Alachua County Emergency Operations Center located

at 1100 SE 27th Street in Gainesville. The registration deadline is September 6, 2010.

For more information, or to register, contact Emergency Management at 352-264-6500.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”balance you must keep moving”balance you must keep moving”balance you must keep moving”

–––– Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein

In addition to keeping you busy with your volunteer service, RSVP strives to keep you up-to-date on local resources and opportunities available to you. We recently e-mailed information to RSVP volunteers about a Fall Prevention Program offered at The Movement and Balance Center. Kate Hunt, Owner and Physical Therapist, says “the purpose of the seminar is to create a community-based fall prevention program with the goal of fall risk reduction. We have included a number of evidence-based evaluation tools to measure the benefit of such a program and serve as the basis for grant applications. The approach is one that encourages a dialogue with the participants so that they complete the 6 week session with a comprehensive knowledge of what causes falls, how to prevent falls, and resources to ensure safety and comprehensive care where needed.”

The program kicked off on June 23, 2010 with 26 participants (including our very own RSVP volunteers, Deanne Moler and Robert Puzio) that learned imperative information over the course of six weeks. RSVP Volunteer Deanne Moler had this to say, “Thank you so much for letting me know about this program! I found the first session to be well organized, the instructor to be most pleasant (and ever so patient with all the questions!), and the information helpful. I believe the exercises we are being taught will strengthen me and I think these classes will teach me how to make improvements and prevent future problems!”

The program will be offered once a quarter for one hour each week for six weeks. However, the first session was such a huge success that seats for the next class are already filled! If you are interested in being placed on the waiting list, please call Kate or Stefanie at 352.331.9356 Older adults can take several steps to protect their independence and reduce their risk of falling. They can:

• Exercise regularly; exercise programs like Tai Chi that increase strength and improve balance are especially good.

• Ask their doctor or pharmacist to review their medicines–both prescription and over-the counter–to reduce side effects and interactions.

• Have their eyes checked by an eye doctor at least once a year.

• Improve the lighting in their home.

• Reduce hazards in their home that can lead to falls.

Mrs. Deanne Moler testing out her balance, during the fall prevention program, on state of

the art Biodex equipment.

Look over this simple home checklist to see if you are preventing falls at home!

www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/toolkit/checklistforsafety.htm

Classes for AARP Driver Safety Program

• September 15th, (ONE DAY), 9:00-3:30 (Trinity United Methodist/Room 210)

• September 16th & 17th, 9:00-1:00 (The Atrium) – FREE lunch on the 17th

• September 20th & 21st, 9:00-1:00 (Palm Garden)

• October 12th & 13th, 12:00-4:00 (Trinity United Methodist)

• October 14th (ONE DAY), 9:00-3:30 (The Atrium) – FREE lunch

• October 26th & 27th, 9:00-1:00 (Palm Garden)

• November 4th (ONE DAY), 9:00-3:30 (Trinity United Methodist)

• November 4th & 5th, 9:00-1:00 (The Atrium) – FREE lunch on the 5th

• November 15th & 16th, 9:00-1:00 (Palm Garden)

• December 2nd, (ONE DAY), 9:00-3:30 (The Atrium) – FREE lunch

*For information or to register, please contact Lynda LeGrow at (352) 333-3036.

Welcome New Volunteers

Lynn D’louhy Jane Kitos Damon Desue, Sr Lucia Madey Phyllis Hansen Barbara Wakefield

Thank You

“Friends of RSVP”

Contributors

William and Carol Branch

It is so important for you to keep us

updated when any of your contact

information changes. Each time we have

a major mail out, masses of items are

returned. Not only are you missing out

on the information, but we are charged

for the returned mail.

Last quarter someone’s travel check was

held up because we had the wrong

address and no phone number for the

person. Please help us out by staying in

touch with us ☺

Time sheet Reminders!

• You must inform Ruth if you begin

serving at a new station/site.

• Round all time to the closest quarter

hour (i.e. 9:15 instead of 9:13)

• You AND your supervisor must sign

the timesheet.

• Please make sure your timesheet is

received on time.

An old man decided his old wife was getting hard of hearing. So he called her doctor to make an appointment to have her hearing checked. The doctor said he could see her in two weeks, and meanwhile there's a simple, informal test the husband could do to give the doctor some idea of the dimensions of the problem. "Here's what you do. Start about 40 feet away from her, and speak in a normal conversational tone and see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response." So that evening she's in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he's in the living room, and he says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens."

"Honey, what's for supper?"

- No response.

So he moves to the other end of the room, about 30 feet away. "Honey, what's for supper?"

- No response.

So he moves into the dining room, about 20 feet away. "Honey, what's for supper?"

- No response.

On to the kitchen door, only 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for supper?".

- No response.

So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for supper?"

- "For the fifth time, CHICKEN!"

The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to

use the provided numbers to discover which

numbers logically fill in the empty squares.

The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine

rows, each of the nine columns, and each of

the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of

the numbers from one to nine, and each

number consequently can occur in each row,

column, and subsection only once.

RSVP Advisory Council

CHAIR VICE CHAIR Susan Thompson Vidya Hogan SECRETARY TREASURER Vidya Hogan Cindy Flowers

Pat Bellis Raymond Giglio Shirley Gonzalez Phyllis Hansen Myrna Hustad Pat Knight

Sadie McBroom Lee Pinkoson HONORARY MEMBER

Charles Gatton

THANK YOU TO RENAISSANCE PRINTING CO. FOR THEIR VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION

RSVP STAFF Program Coordinator: Debbie Shea Program Specialist: Ruth O’Conner Senior Staff Assistant: Samantha Crawford

The Bridge Builder Published by the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program RSVP is part of the Corporation for National Service

and is sponsored locally by the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners

within the Department of Community Support Services

FRIENDS OF RSVP If you would like to become a Friend of RSVP,

send your donation to: 218 SE 24th Street

Gainesville, FL 32641

Please make checks payable to the Advisory Council for RSVP and enclose the form below:

I wish to become a Friend of RSVP as indicated:

Individual $5 Family $15 Contributor $25 Patron $50 Benefactor $100+ Other $____

Name: _____________________________

Address: ___________________________

City: _________________Zip__________

The Bridge Builder Retired and Senior Volunteer Program 218 SE 24th Street Gainesville, FL 32641

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