Seniors as Volunteers at the Kingston Region - Seniors Association

Abstract

The goals of this study are to examine why seniors volunteer and how where they volunteer affects their everyday lives. A group of volunteers from a seniors association in southeastern Ontario are used to investigate how seniors become volunteers, why individuals continue to volunteer at a particular place, what tasks senior volunteers perform, and the number of years and hours seniors volunteer at a particular organization. The study makes use of 23 interviews with volunteers aged 54 to 89. The findings from the interviews were then compared to national data on senior volunteers gathered from the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP). The secondary data were used to examine such things as, the tasks senior volunteers perform and the reasons seniors volunteer across Canada. The analysis reveals that the group of volunteers show several similarities to volunteers aged 55 and over across Canada. The interviews show that the specific characteristics of the place influence why seniors volunteer and continue to volunteer at this particular organization. In addition to the characteristics of the place, the interviews disclose the potential to view the seniors centre as a therapeutic landscape, where healing, well-being and maintained health are enhanced.