Why SCSEP Matters

SCSEP brings generations together

In Flint, Michigan, SCSEP is used (as one example) to provide intergenerational tutoring to K-3 students reading below grade level. As a result, the students raise their reading skills dramatically and the seniors benefits from the modest income the program provides and, more importantly, from knowing they are providing a vital service to the community. Our national sponsor, Senior Service America, helped us develop a 60-hour classroom training program for intergenerational tutors. The senior citizens are rejuvenated by getting back into the classroom and passing on their lifeskills to the younger generation.

John C. McGarry
Senior Aides Project Director
Flint Community Schools
Flint, Michigan

SCSEP helped me out of homelessness

In August of 2003 the building that I was living in and managing was destroyed leaving me and 51 other people homeless. I ended up in a shelter, knowing I could not endure this kind of environment for very long. I started looking for organizations that could help me. I found an organization called Ezra that helped me tremendously. The job manager there, Stephanie Leif, contacted Ruth Carter at Jewish Vocational Services, [a SCSEP provider], and through her diligence, I was hired by a retirement home.

With the job and being able to have my self-respect and dignity back, I reached out to an organization called Sarah's Circle who in turn was impressed with my ability to maintain and move on. They nominated me for the Ripple Effect Award with the Chicago Foundation for Women. I won. I and many others appreciate the Senior Aides Program and hope it will continue for many years.

Carol Markpulos
Chicago, Illinois

Returning to workforce hard after many years

Having moved back to North Carolina after a hiatus of many years. I was stunned at the lack of job opportunities available to individuals over 50. I started to work at the age of 14 and worked in the healthcare field for over 30 years, never drawing one day of unemployment compensation. …This program has afforded me the opportunity to get a position with the county. I don't earn a lot more money, but it's something I can depend on.

Carolyn J. Gardner
Sylva, North Carolina

Over 65 job search isn't easy

I have worked all my life since I was 17 years old. All my employment situations which included a stint in the Navy, teaching at a private boarding school, operating a halfway house for delinquent youth, and property management were all very low paying jobs. My social security benefits at 65 years old came to less than $500 a month. I applied for many jobs at age 65 and found that employers were not interested in hiring someone my age. The Senior Aides Program did not discriminate because of age.

I was a Senior Aide for over a year [and] was hired by [my] host agency. In five months, I will have been with my present employer for 10 years. I have almost doubled my social security benefits and will continue to receive health insurance benefits after retirement. The Senior Aides Program made this possible for me. …

In the host agency I work for, Senior Aides help to provide meals to homebound seniors, help to build wheelchair ramps, and do home safety repairs for seniors. They cut, split logs and deliver firewood to senior whose only source of heat or cooking is firewood. The Senior Aides provide care for Alzheimer's or dementia clients, and assist with programs at the senior center. One Senior Aide has been trained to counsel seniors on Medicare, understanding the very complicated Prescription Drug Program that went into effect this year.

Al Bouchard
Sylva, North Carolina

SCSEP participants contribute rich backgrounds

The Jackson County Department on Aging has been a host agency for the Senior Aides Program of the State of Franklin Health Council, Inc. for 20 years.

The department has accepted placement of 14 Senior Aides over these years to offer on-the-job training for low-income seniors who find it difficult to find employment in the private sector due to age discrimination, or lack of skills.

This department has hired nine Senior Aides as part-time or full-time employees for varying lengths of service. One Senior Aide who was employed full time by the Department of Aging has been an employee of this agency for 10 years.

The Senior Aides program is a very valuable program in providing on-the-job training to its participants. The program also enriches the host agency by having additional staff personnel with rich, life backgrounds assisting Jackson County seniors in our various programs. These programs include providing nutrition to homebound seniors, home repair, firewood, Prescription Drug Program counseling, Alzheimer's Respite program and a highly active Senior Center.

Helen Bryson
Director
Jackson County Department on Aging
Sylva, North Carolina

SCSEP participants are community assets

SCSEP is not a welfare program because this program gives to the community; not only community service but the awareness of how much of an asset seniors are and can be to the community. Along with training us so we can re-enter the workforce. Many are successful in obtaining employment through this program because of the opportunity that the host agencies give them in training them. We are very visible in the community. This program is a good resource for seniors my experience is in contradiction to his comments. I am being trained in meaningful skills that are marketable and I can use the skills and training in seeking employment when I can compete in the job market. The experience and service to the community is a plus in applying for positions.

Denise Douglas
Cumberland County, North Carolina

SCSEP participants offer wisdom, maturity

I am a senior citizen having difficulty landing gainful employment due to health changes and skills for outdoor work only, which no one will hire a 55+ woman to do…

I have regularly sought jobs through the local Employment Security Commission and personal efforts. Many Senior Aides I know are dependable, productive part of the workforce. Many are military vets—all are civilian vets—with wisdom, maturity dependability to offer continued service to our community.

Charmaine Z. Blue-Sky
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Value is more than dollars and cents

The value of the Senior Aides Program cannot be stated in dollars and cents only. The value is the quality of life that this program provides to seniors nationwide. This is definitely not a welfare program, as the seniors work for the small amount of money that they earn. This allows them to be independent and remain in their homes longer. It also gives them a sense of value for themselves. They can take pride in the contributions they are making. The jobs that they do in the non-profit world provide service that cannot be measured in a dollar amount! As the director of a national non-profit agency, I personally know what the Senior Aides Program means to RSVP—locally, statewide and across the United States. If non-profits had the funding available, we would all hire the Senior Aide who works with us—helping to "Make a Difference" in our communities!

Judy Dawkins
Retired Senior Volunteer Program
Fayetteville, North Carolina

SCSEP helped me start my life over

I am a Senior Aide under the County of Cumberland Senior Community Service Employment Program—Senior Aides Program—in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This training experience/employment service has been invaluable to me. The program has afforded me an opportunity to learn new work methods and to continue to work as I had to retire from my previous employment due to health reasons. The program has also enabled me to start my life again when I thought it may be over as my income would not cover my living expenses. I am also able at an elderly age to leave my home everyday to look forward to a bright future in helping and working with others.

This program is not wasteful. It has accomplished the job training goals as planned. The agency that I am assigned to has two full-time, former Senior Aides employed within their agency. I, for one, have appreciated all this program has done for me and those like me.

Nancy Jacobs
Fayetteville, North Carolina

SCSEP leads to permanent employment

As the SHIIP coordinating agency for Swain County, my office has personally conseled over 500 people about their Medicare Part D (Prescription Drug Program) benefits. Our Senior Aide has helped dramatically with this process since she has learned about the program, can now answer most questions about Part D and maximizes the other conselors time since she helps beneficiaries to fill out the basic information on the Plan Finder tool that we use. She explains the basic benefits and answers questions.

When she came to us, she had good people skills but did not know anything about Medicare Part D. She did not know how to use a computer. She has learned to use our very sophisticated copy machine, and the postage meter. She is learning to use the computer and she is excellent on the phone. She is able to do general office work, mailings, copying, putting together materials and other such tasks. We will be hiring her within the next two months on a part-time permanent basis.

Mary B. Parker
Area Agency on Aging
Bryson City, North Carolina

SCSEP participants keep trying

This program means a lot to me. With prices going up so fast for gas, for heating and driving, food. You can't make it on Social Security alone. I need to join the workforce so I can find the right job. It's not easy at a certain age. But I keep trying.

JoAnn McDougald
Visions Resource Center
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Seniors need to work beyond retirement

I have been employed in this program and without it I would not be able to work otherwise because of my age. It is a presumption that the seniors of today do not need employment since they have reached retirement age, this is not true.

The Senior Community Service Employment Program enables seniors to live a productive life and be actively involved in society.

Barbara A. Foster
Senior Aide Telephone Reassurance
Cumberland County Workforce Development Center
Fayetteville, North Carolina

SCSEP expects accountability

The seniors we serve in our project do not want welfare. They want a chance to stand on their own feet, support themselves and have a life meaningful to them. I am one of them.

Nola Ash
Job Developer
Amarillo Senior Citizens Association
Amarillo, Texas

SCSEP 'my lifeline'

I've been a participant of this program for the past 2 ½ years. Little did I know this program would turn out to be my lifeline. I was placed at a training site and learned many skills I wasn't aware I had. This training I'm sure will stay with and benefit me for the rest of my life. I know this training will open the door for many jobs in the years to come.

During this time we are requested to attend numerous training meetings. These meetings provide you with all the knowledge and tools you will need to obtain gainful employment. Also during this time, you are receiving training at your host agency. Knowledge is power and that is exactly what the meetings provide you with.

Whatever the reason a senior citizen choses to join the workforce at that time of their lives, why shouldn't they get the help they so richly deserve. Seniors should be given the opportunity to prove that they can be a productive part of any job or business.

I was offered a job at my host agency. I don't see this as the end but a whole new beginning.

Karen Bronkema

Freedom from welfare

Since registering with the program in August, 2005, (having been disabled and unemployed since 1990) I have made a great deal of progress towards becoming financially independent. While I have made several attempts in this direction over the last several years, I have never had the support that I receive through this program, and thus, my efforts were short-lived and unsuccessful.

Over the last few months, with the help of SCET staff, I have accomplished the following:

I have built confidence in my ability to sustain a high performance standard and a professional demeanor.

I am learning to deal with and adapt to difficult personalities in the workplace.

I am learning my weak points and how to overcome/circumvent them and to enhance my strong points as they pertain to a workplace setting.

I no longer require an SSI income and I am gradually reducing my need for all government assistance. I am currently submitting my resume to various local employers and am confident that, after 15 years of total dependence on "welfare" programs, I will be employed and fully self-sufficient within a year's time.

Dawn LaFavor

Benefits of training program

As a participant in the Senior Citizens Employment and Training program, I am able to continue to update and refresh my computer skills while searching for a permanent, full-time position. I have been given aid in resume development and job search skills.

At my training site, I have also learned new computer techniques and have become familiar with the day-to-day operations of a Community Access television station.

I am a college graduate and taught high school for 10 years. For the past 15-plus years, I have worked in an office setting. When I began to work in an office there were no computers, only typewriters, so I needed to retrain on the job. Presently, I am using the local technical college's computer lab to update and acquire new computer skills and to refresh math and grammar skills.

Anona Nelson

SCSEP 'valuable' to community

In my opinion, SCSEP is a valuable asset to this community and others. It is a way of helping our seniors to gain confidence in themselves and allows them to get out and become a valuable person to themselves by enlisting ways to become familiar with the needs of others and the community.

Jean A. Richmond

SCSEP 'too valuable' to cut

I had the opportunity to participate in the SCSEP program, which resulted in a job for me in the private sector. The excellent training is too valuable a program to cut. I strongly urge and respectfully ask that this program continue.

Wes Berg

Thanks to SCSEP, job won

The sign on the door read "Senior Employment." Curious about what it implied, I went inside. I found a pleasant and helpful staff that walked me through an interview that lead to employment for me. My personal interviewer asked questions about my ability to work and my choice of work. She knew what was available in my field of expertise and quickly set up an appointment for me to interview at a job-training site. Later, I was hired at the job site, and became gainfully employed.

As a person over the age of 55 years I believe I was able to gain employment because of the Senior Community Service Employment Program.

Many people who have been in a bad patch—and usually through none of their own doing—have benefited from the Senior Employment Program. The program has enriched many lives. Families have been held together by the gainful employment of a family member.

(SCSEP) is of great value, not only to the over-55 worker, but to the business world as well. The over-55 worker is reliable, a good employee and willing to do the job expected of him/her. There are older people in need of employment, and the Senior Employment program gives them that opportunity and peace of mind.

Wanda Hanson

SCSEP credited for nursing program

I don't think this program is frivolous, nor do I think it should be discontinued. It has helped many people, me being only one.

I have really benefited from the senior retraining program. I'm almost through a nursing program, and if it weren't for them and their support, I would not have been able to do the schooling.

Marllys Meyer

First SCSEP, now a tax payer

I was a Senior Aide for two years and they helped me find two part-time jobs. Those jobs keep me in my own home and now I am no longer eligible for energy assistance and prescription assistance. I am also able to pay my own taxes. I know of at least two other seniors from my small village that found this help, too. So think of the taxpayer's savings. Go figure!

Oli Bedell Fairchild

A SCSEP success story

After working in the retail business for 23 years, I retired. With the death of my husband, I needed to find a job. SCSEP placed me in the local high school, where I trained in office procedure. After two years on the job at the high school, they offered me a job, as a coach in a computerized Reading Program. Yes, I am one of their success stories. Without the help of SCSEP, I would not be doing as well as I am today.

Mary Lou Presley
Coach, Fast Forward Program

Former homemaker values SCSEP training

As a Senior Aide, I firmly believe that the Senior Citizens Employment & Training Program is a very worthwhile organization.

Many (probably most) seniors on the program have been out of the workforce for a long time. As widows or divorced women (and or men) we need to be gently re-introduced into the mainstream workforce. A first or second training site may not lead to a workplace that has job openings available.

After spending 30 years as a homemaker, it is very difficult to adapt to a public work regimen.

My former job site has hired at least two Senior Aides, and my current site has previously hired at least three Senior Aides. The program is working!

There are many government programs that need to be cut back or eliminated, but I don't believe that the Senior Aide program is one of them.

Norma L. Timm
Augusta, Wisc.

Employer values Senior Aides

As an on-site supervisor for Senior Aides over the past 20 years, I would like to express my approval and support of this very beneficial program. In the past few years, the small facility I work for has hired three Senior Aides as regular employees. I have had many positive experiences with our Senior Aides. Several had never worked away from their homes, but were now in a position where they needed the income to survive. Senior citizens with no work experience would have very little chance to be hired without this program. It has provided opportunities for many to explore areas of interest and decide what type of work they are best suited for. It also gives the employer a very good idea of what kind of employee this individual will be. Working in non-profit sites, our Senior Aides are providing valuable services to their communities, Senior Aides are working at minimum wage to gain experience, confidence and to prove themselves worthy of regular employment. I have great respect and admiration for their ambition and determination to be productive and support themselves.

Patsy Peterson

Program develops work skills,

From my experience with the program (about one year), I've seen where many seniors have been placed in training situations they seem to be happy with. Plus, for many this is a program that can help those who are attempting to supplement their retirement receive new work skills for future employment and give them a sense of well being. I feel seniors involved with this program have received valuable training and work skills, mostly on the job. I believe programs like this should be available for the over-55 age group in hopes of developing work skills, giving a sense of contributing to the work force and a sense of well-being.

Mike Parker

A stepping-stone to gainful employment

[SCSEP is] not about welfare. SCSEP is a stepping-stone for an individual to acquire gainful self employment. I was a part of this program for three months before obtaining a permanent job. I was assisted with the skills training, and encouragement I needed to feel self worth. What a wonderful opportunity we have been given here in Eau Claire, Wisc. This facility continues to do an outstanding job, working hard to find job sites for all of their applicants.

Our director and staff continue to work diligently and have received national recognition for its efficiency and placement of our workers.

Barbara Erickson
Eau Claire, Wisc.

'A grave injustice'

We in the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin have a very successful program in which many seniors have been placed in jobs and others trained and placed in the job market, myself included, allowing us the pride of working to support ourselves as well as supplementing our income.

Joan M. Metcalf

A worthy program

Senior Citizens Employment & Training, Inc., assisted me in securing employment in my current position at Westgate Janitorial Service. Without their services I would still be unemployed or working part-time at a local fast-food establishment.

It is a very worthy program and should continue.

Ralph Auen

Thankful for SCSEP

I am currently in this program and thankful there is such a program for low-income senior citizens. The program is a training program enabling seniors to get on-the-job training to return to the normal work force.

Needless to say how thankful we are that there is this program.

Edna Schiefelbein

Thanks to program, welfare is not needed

I am very thankful that SCET was there for me after I lost my husband and was unemployed and over 60 years old. I was sending out three to seven resumes a week and not even receiving a return call. It is illegal to ask a person's age, but it is still required to list the year of graduation from high school. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how old a person is.

SCET assisted me in finding employment. After two years I am still employed with the same company.

Thank you. Without the help I would be on welfare. Keep up the good work.

Mavis LaRue
Eau Claire, Wisc.

SCSEP an asset for would-be workers

This program trains senior citizens for jobs so that we are employable. This program is an asset for we senior citizens who wish to get back into the business world.

Eileen Helm

Like CCC, SCSEP offers hope, value

If it never placed a single person in an on-going job, the value of the work experience participants gain from SCSEP, the self-worth it engenders in participants, and the wonderful, irreplaceable work done by participants in the non-profit sector would be worth every tax dollar that goes into it.

I call to mind the CCC. Conservatives excoriated it, as a waste of taxpayer's money. But what it really did was give employment and hope to people who otherwise would have sat home poor and angry; and it built buildings and infrastructure on public lands all across the nation that still stand as testament to the 'waste' of the CCC.

Tom McDonald

SCSEP restored my life

I am a senior citizen, a baby boomer who has come of age. I was not yet ready to stop working, but medical circumstances (massive stroke) force me to rely on my Social Security. After recovering enough to be able to talk and walk with assistance I found that in the work force there was not much for me. I just sat at home trying to figure out how to make it financially.

I was introduced to SCSEP and enrolled. This has given me my life back. With the assistance of the director and staff I have taken computer training. By placing me in a Senior Aide community service assignment as a receptionist I am more confident, and assured that I am ready to proceed to becoming employable in the work force again. This is not a welfare program. This program makes you self-sufficient, employable, and financially stable.

So I ask of you doing away with SCSEP, what advantage would this be? Me going on welfare for food stamps and medical assistance. Now that is a burden and a waste of taxpayers money.

Darleen Jones
Fort Myers , Florida

A conservative's perspective

I am project director for SCSEP in Amarillo, Texas. All of my participants, all of my host agencies where they train and all 50 or so low-income seniors that obtained a permanent job in the last year will attest to the fact that SCSEP has been a lifesaver for them. Nearly all of these seniors were able to get off welfare, off food stamps and/or off the street because of this program.

Jim Hagemeier
SCSEP project director
Amarillo Senior Citizens Association
Amarillo, Texas

'A vital community service'

We here at the Fayetteville Urban Ministry of Fayetteville, N.C. would not operate without our senior citizens. We are a non-profit organization that serves the Cumberland County indigent population. We serve approximately 425 clients per month with clothing, 125 with food and 35 homeless per week with clothing, snack packs and hygiene kits. We have two part-time employees. We can only successfully operate with volunteers and our SCSEP workers. For the most part, our volunteers are not willing to do what our SCSEP workers do (sort and hang clothing). The volunteers feel like it is below their dignity and educational level to handle,often time, dirty clothing and shoes. We have had church volunteers and well meaning volunteers who will work only one or two days and we never see them again. Our SCSEP workers earn every dollar they make and then some. They are our senior citizens who have a dedicated, dependable and loyal work ethic which is hard to find in our younger generation. Our workers provide a vital community service for us.

Raymond N. Miller
Emergency Assistance Coordinator
Fayetteville Urban Ministry
Fayetteville North Carolina

SCSEP a key to self-sufficiency

My SCSEP project covers 6,137 square miles with limited resources. For nearly all of these years, we have met or exceeded the primary goals. We provide paid community services to over 100 enrollees each year. My SCSEP participants work at senior citizen centers, child day care centers, headstart centers, public schools, public libraries, museums, parks, workforce development centers, Community Action Agency county outreach centers, LIHEAP programs. They serve on the governor's task-force groups. Because of the united SCSEP sponsors, the employment of more older workers has become quite evident.

SCSEP is one of the most cost-effective work experience programs in existence. It is rare to find an older worker who is not performing community service tasks at his/her full potential. They are the role models for the younger, less experienced generations.

The training offered to the program participants is very valuable in preparing them for better employment. We are meeting the employers' needs. SCSEP will continue to meet the employment changes.

Because of SCSEP, our participants are able to continue living in their own homes, remain independent and self-sufficient.

It is time that these critics work next to SCSEP participants to fully understand what they are contributing for the betterment of society and in keeping America free and productive.

Douglas Paine
SCSEP project director
West Central Development Corporation
Harlan, Iowa

Mature workers 'a valuable asset'

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) gives more than hands-on training and work experience to its participants; it is also a community service program. As the participants are paid by a grant, all the hours worked at the assigned host sites, which are either non-profit or government agencies, are considered community service. SCSEP enables mature workers to learn valuable employment skills, gain confidence, and make a valuable contribution to their community during the learning process.

Certainly many of the participants receive subsidies when they come onto the program. However, the goal is to find permanent, unsubsidized employment with a wage that will remove the need to have subsidies to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

Program participants are people from all walks of life and all education levels. There are those who have not worked for many years, new immigrants who have not yet worked in the United States, those who speak limited English, those who need computer and clerical skills, those who need the opportunity to do any kind of work, and others who need assistance with resume writing and job search skills.

What SCSEP participants all have in common is that they want to work!

These mature workers come with a wealth of life experiences, are dependable, and not afraid of hard work. This program is their opportunity to take that first step toward permanent, unsubsidized employment. Gaining new skills and finding that permanent, unsubsidized job is the way out of welfare. Newly gained pride and self-confidence in their accomplishments are factors that will also assist them in finding that job.

Finding a permanent job can be a challenge, especially for those who face multiple forms of discrimination including discrimination based on age. Once employers realize that mature workers are a valuable asset and they begin to accept them into their organizations more frequently, the challenges of finding regular unsubsidized employment are greatly reduced. After participating in SCSEP, participants are more likely to meet current employment eligibility requirements. What chance do they have without updated skills or current experience?

The seniors with whom I have the privilege of working have heartwarming stories to tell—stories of vision and personal fortitude as they strive to earn a living wage and become self-reliant.

Harriet Shapiro
Director
Senior Community Service Employment Program, Jewish Council for the Aging
Bethesda, Maryland

On the road to meaningful employment

The Senior Aides Program has the ultimate goal of assisting program participants in finding unsubsidized employment. Program staff members have the uneasy task of taking the downtrodden, the low self-esteem and low self-confidence individual, the elementary, middle and high school drop-outs, the little or no college individual, the ex-drug addict, and ex-prisoner, and preparing them to reenter a workforce that is technologically advanced beyond their imagination, discriminating in age, race, gender and social status, and is not particularly sensitive to their needs.

Yes! We do have a poor record of finding 'meaningful jobs' for program participants as professors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, scientists, pharmacists, nurses and CEOs. However, we have been successful in placing program participants in unsubsidized job positions as receptionists, transit authority bus drivers, certified nursing assistants, business office administrative assistants, light order chefs, administrative clerical associates, certified carpenters, custodians and a host of other employment disciplines.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, just keep looking!

Marvin Crenzell Johnson
Counselor/Job Developer
Winston-Salem Urban League
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

A personal testimony

As a SCSEP participant for over a year I have provided nearly 4,000 hours of community service—my duties and responsibilities were the following:

In addition, during this time I also received on-the-job training—Catholic Charities was extremely generous in giving me the opportunity to learn new skills and helping me to become computer literate.

As a result, I have obtained unsubsidized employment at a hospital here in Worcester—this is a full-time position with benefits—so I will be back in the workforce in February 2006. Therefore, I am thankful to this program for helping me.

Barbara A. Stewartson
Former SCSEP participant
Worcester County Senior Employment Program
Worcester, Mass.

SCSEP deserves respect, support

SCSEP is a training program. Participants receive a variety of training to include on-the-job, general, specialized, educational, cognitive vitality, basic interviewing, computer, resume writing, and whatever else is needed to assist them in securing meaningful unsubsidized employment. These participants have successfully gone on to serve our community in jobs as teaching assistants in public schools, secretaries and receptionists in non-profit and private employment, nursing assistants working in retirement homes and hospitals; caregivers working in day care centers and numerous other jobs.

This program truly assists our older adults and should receive the respect and support necessary to continue funding. At the White House Conference on Aging, of 1,169 delegates in attendance, 1,061 voted yes on the resolution that SCSEP retain its "vital, historic focus on community service" and that national organizations continue to be funded along with state agencies.

The expectations of these participants are simple; they want a better quality of life. One in which they are able to remain independent and self-supporting.

Cindi Crutchfield
Director, Senior Aides Program
Chattanooga, Tenn.

'Real story' vs. 'whimsical fabrication'

This program is a subgrantee of SCSEP, sponsored by Senior Service America, Inc. (SSAI) and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Division of Older Worker Programs. I have been an active volunteer involved in the local program since my wife became its director. I perform administrative functions as well as other volunteer work. I have attended six national conferences, met some of the directors and other management personnel of both SSAI and SCSEP. I am very informed regarding the policies and procedures of the program and the relevant statistics provided by these organizations.

Incidentally, my wife retired from the U.S. Civil Service after 35 years. She is a 76 year old senior who resumed work after retirement in a health care and nursing home company and now with the Charleston Area Senior Citizens Service where she is paid to work 30 hours a week. Her 30 hours of office work each week usually extends beyond that, either at the office or home.

There are more than 100 of these organizations in 23 states and the District of Columbia . These subgrantees include faith-based and community-based organizations, action agencies, local area agencies on aging, local workforce development agencies and regional councils of government.

The local Senior Aides program here in Charleston, S.C. must meet the annual goals established by the Department of Labor to remain in existence. They have consistently achieved or surpassed these goals, and are well on the way to exceeding these goals for 2006.

[Participants] earned $5.15 per hour, 20 hours a week for up to two years while in the training program and have been placed in the private sector in meaningful jobs. They are now productive members of our community and are able to do the things like take care of their families, and get some enjoyment out of their remaining years that they could not do on their Social Security payments, or while living at the homeless shelter with no income.

Interview the people from the host agencies (non-profit or government agencies) who accept the Senior Aides into their businesses to train them in rediscovering old skills or gaining new ones. Ask their managers what they think of the program participants. The comments are boundless, and their praises of the good work these people do is gratifying not only to the Senior Aides themselves, but to the people involved in the work of SCSEP as well as the business in the private sector who hire those Aides who are not directly hired by the host agencies.

Carl B. Bliesener
Volunteer, Senior Aides Program
Charleston Area Senior Citizens, Inc.
Charleston, South Carolina