[Music] hello and welcome to age friendly chelsford this is Debbie serani I'm the director of the senior center I'm also
the co-chair of the agef friendly Committee in town and today's guests we have from the library and we have have Leslie Kimble who is the director of the library also on the agef friendly Committee in charge of communication domain and we have Jeff Hartman um and
he is the marketing and Outreach director at the uh Library so welcome very much thanks Debbie welcome very much thank you Debbie whatever we'll go with that it'll be the whole new thing welcome very much everyone it's so nice to have you it's
great to be here it's fun so what we wanted to talk about was um the volunteer Fair coming up and we work as partners it's at the senior center but the library does a lot of the coordination and and getting the
different groups to to sign up and and um and and show up and and make sure that everything's coordinated so we want to talk a little bit about that it is going to be on March 22nd Saturday from 1:00 to 400 p.m. uh last year we had
about two dozen groups coming this year we've already got over 30 groups committed so it's going to be a really great opportunity to find out about all sorts of different opportunities to help out in the community and the region really uh people of all ages and uh we get uh I think 100 200 people coming last year and it was really fantastic
opportunity for people to get to know each other and uh find out what they can do it's wonderful um so we have a little bit of a a reel to show here this is from 2020 hi I'm Elizabeth Silva and I'm with ctm and I'm at the chord volunteer Fair
where a lot of organizations come together to try to ask people to volunteer with our teen volunteer program we have tons of opportunities for teenagers to get involved and help us out at the library we do a variety of things but our mission is really um to provide
service in the community to provide fundraising efforts for charitable organizations and to provide service what's the chum art Society all about so I'm with Tom from the elders climate action so I'm at the table of Plenty so I'm at the townwide clean up Booth with Serena and Drea both beautiful names I
met so many great people from different organizations here at the volunteer fair and I met them and I learned about what their group is all about and they're making an impact on the world so if you want to make an impact volunteer she has such great energy I love that she does and the whole room does yeah it's a
wonderful feature of uh the absolute best parts of the volunteer Fair yeah and the best parts of the town I think one of the my favorite Parts about being at the volunteer fair is it's all the nicest people in the area I mean they're just all really like the people that
want to make an impact and I think that video really showed um that there are so many opportunities for people of all ages too where it's at the senior center we have the big Hall but it is really focused on people of
all ages to be able to volunteer so um tell me a little bit about some of the volunteers that you utilize at the Library well Jeff should definitely talk about our number one volunteer our favorite volunteer is Carol who is 90 years old and she has been volunteering at the library for at least 20 years uh
I asked her how long she'd been saying and she she'd been working there and she said oh I don't know I just I'm always happy to be there and she says it Mak such a difference for her to be able to leave the house come to the library a couple times a week just help us with little things that difficult for us to get to like folding calendars or counting out coins from the change
machine things like that and but it makes a huge difference for us it makes difference for her to be able to come out there we also has as you saw in the video a teen volunteer program and that's fantastic um we had the chord Public Schools art reception this week and uh the team were really invaluable in helping get that set up uh just
helping us with extra sets of hands to move things around and direct people to different places uh get food and drinks ready for people uh they also help out with the other children's programs in this in the library it's really great it it really be makes it um us as as town
departments able to do so much more with the time time that we have and the resources that we have to be able to have volunteers help us run them run them as well I know uh almost every single program and
um activity going on at the senior center relies on some volunteer helping out and um so we're we're super excited about that um and creating opportunities for people to to get out into the community make an impact be part of you
know and engaged in the community make friends um I have a volunteer I was telling you before I have a volunteer who is in her 90s and um she was so good that we ended up hiring her as a substitute so I think she's she might be
the oldest um employee in town she's 92 now and she started out as a volunteer and I think it was it was over 20 years ago and her name is Nikki Bishop I think she was on the show one time with us and
um and so when I started as the activity director many many moons ago at the senior center she trained me and now I'm her boss so it's kind of funny cuz she's always like you're doing a good job and
I'm like that means more to than anything you know for her to say that oh absolutely but now it's kind of funny CU I'm her boss but she trained me so um yeah it's it's it's wonderful and I I have a lot of volunteers that show up and they say this is my happy place you
know this is where I feel like I'm doing something really important and uh it truly is we we so what are some of the other groups that are um signed up do you do you have them in your yeah I've got I mean I've got a whole list here I'm not going to run through every single one of them but a couple that are
particularly cool is um The Reserve medical Corps of the Upper marac Valley they can only take volunteers who are over the age of 18 but they just do such great work uh being able to help train and provide people with medical assistance when they need it and serve as a backup for other like services in the area uh there's also the L humane
society which is always a big favorite I'm not sure whether or not they're going to bring a dog on Saturday but like you just have to show up and find out whether or not they're going to there are usually a few dogs there from the dog park or the you know a few different organizations usually bring dogs to yeah sure um another great
organization again as you saw in the video earlier is a table of Plenty which helps the food insecurity in the area bigger issu than ever uh they actually had a conference this past week to talk about how big an issue it is and uh they're always looking for volunteers to help out make sure that food is getting to the people who need it most in the
area I was at that and um it was lovely and the nice part about it was there were so many different we we said basically spokes to the same wheel but that we weren't all necessarily we hadn't all talk to each other you know
and and been able to say oh you're doing um that yeah that's great I can piggyback or I can send some of the folks that I know to you and you know I don't have to um you know reinvent the wheel all fokes oh that worked out well
I I mean I think that this is one of the things you mentioned earlier is that there's also these connections between the groups themselves um at this so we're connecting folks who are looking for the opportunity to make an impact to volunteer with an organization that
really is a about their interests and what they're passionate about but then we see the groups themselves the organizations talking to each other and learning more about oh what is it that you're doing and working towards can we help out with that or oh I know someone
that I'm going to tell about what what you're doing so it's a great networking event it's a great networking event and just making those connections um between people I think makes the entire Community stronger absolutely we have a
few ures from uh from last time we did it I think it was last year um so this is Jeff you're famous so we we make sure that each group has a booth and um and they they
have opportunities specific opportunities of what's going on uh with their group with their site and what what specific jobs are available uh and it's so nice because uh uh there are a lot of people just looking around uh
saying I don't know what to do and sometimes they don't know who to reach out to and so it's so nice to be able to just walk around the room and go wow there are all kinds of ways I could be involved right yeah and right there to get involved sometimes you don't know
who to email or or how to find out about it and this gives you that opportunity to find it out right there oh there's me and um and two of my friends members My friend Sharon actually uh who's on the board of the friends and Clare Lynch
who's on the board of the friends uh and uh they've been helping for a long time the friends group uh for our senior center is key so we are looking for more people to join the friends too that's my little um well we're looking for people
to join our friends see yeah absolutely and they're great group both great groups I mean it's amazing people with different interests what these groups do and I mean you mentioned the board of the friends but there is also we you know need to remember that our town our
town government actually runs on volunteer help we have so many boards and committees that are entirely made up of volunteers and the work that's being done there is incredibly important to people's everyday lives and making the
town go so there will be some Town representation there as well and sometimes you think oh I'm not the right person to help but you might find out that you're exactly the right person to help so and it's such a nice way to just feel like not helpless about things in
the world to say I'm out there and doing something to to make a difference and it really does and it makes a difference in your life it's a great way to make friends actually finding someone with the same interest and who knows some are romance who knows you never know right
we're not promising anything at the volunteer would that be kind of cute to find a volunteer volunteer fair oh hey speed dating volunte maybe maybe next year I mean I know if nothing else we're going to have the the recycling committee there the climate energy and
sustainability committee going to be there the diversity equity and inclusion committee I think is going to have a table as well um there's the open space stewardship the some of the garden clubs so no matter what your interests are there's really a great uh way to connect to people in the community and uh really think about something that you can do uh
that's going to keep you and out there and uh meeting up with folks from all these other different groups so yeah and they're not all just from chelsford so uh we're not just looking for people from Chelmsford and we're uh also not looking for just groups from chelsford
the mostly from chelsford but there are a lot in the area that come as well yeah one of the big organizations that's coming is the Discovery Museum in act and they're always looking for volunteers to help out with their programs to work in their gift shop uh to do things just to welcome guests into their organization um I know we've also
got 350 mass of Greater LOL they're another climate and environmental Action Group uh but they're really for the whole region not just for chump itself but yeah it's great that we can serve as a hub for the all these communities I know and I love that they're coming because I do think the Discovery Museum
is one of the places that wouldn't come to people's minds right away as looking for volunteers so it definitely highlights opportunities that you might not think of yeah yeah oh my kids loved that place the place with the dinosaur in the front right you got it I remember
to so fun my kids are 27 now may maybe they'll volunte they they would love doing that I bet yeah absolutely um so we're doing a little bit of a presentation there'll
be a presentation by either um the town manager or uh Pat Wes correct right and they'll be doing a a surprise presentation on long long time volunteer yeah so very brief um it's going to be
around 2:00 and um just a way to recognize uh someone who has given a lot to the town um and how important what the impact is of what that person's time and efforts and energy has has been um
and we didn't talk about food well we'll have coffee well it's the senior center we always have coffee come on and uh and then the nooba Tech's helping us with some snacks and yeah so the culinary program the students um are going to be uh providing some cookies and some
brownies and so it's going to be really delicious a delicious time so um you know come find out how you can get involved have a nice snack cup of coffee it's a great day it's a good outing and the hours are from 1 until 4:00 p.m. but
the um you can just pop by for 10 minutes you can pop by for an hour or two and um you know so we're we're open the whole time and uh you don't have to be there the whole time not it's a great way to make
connections and and and so many ages of of people being able to come in and and uh be in the same space is always a nice Community event too absolutely and all the nicest people in the whole town come come at the same space so there's great
energy there so I wanted to talk a little bit about um the senior t tax worker program too so we'll have information about the senior tax worker program um you have some folks over at the library who work in this tax program
so tell me a couple of the jobs if you can think of some of the jobs that you have people doing uh so the tax program is for people over 60 who um are paying ta property tax in town and the senior center uh administers the the the
program so we organize it and interview people and uh take the applications and then we place 150 people every year in positions All Around Town um so that they can get money off their taxes per
per hour so it's basically they can make um up to $1,500 off of their tax bill for volunteering for the town and so so tell me about some of the jobs that you have um at the SC at the um library that well a couple of things that I know that
our volunteers do and I mentioned Carol already but uh we we have lots of paper at the library that needs folding or cutting we have handouts for the public we have calendars we have newsletters things like that that we just need to have somebody who will is willing to sit there and fold 150 pieces of paper into
thirds and something like that we also the library as you know has lots of multimedia things and DVDs and audiobook CS they sometimes come back scratched or dirty and so we have volunteers who will go through and clean all those or resurface them so that they can actually uh extend their life and so that people
can enjoy them for longer periods of time I think also maybe people in the tax Program help us go through all the donations because if you've ever been by the library we have a donation bin off to the side of the building and it is just overflowing full of books that people have given to the library which is fantastic but we need to actually
sort out what we can actually use and what needs to be given to another organization as a donation so having volunteers to do that for us is so helpful absolutely yeah it makes a a real impact I think sometimes you know people might look at volunteering and think oh you know is folding things is
that busy work is it whatever but you know these are things like the brochures we give to to new patrons and that makes a difference if we didn't have those to give out that would be a huge huge loss if we couldn't get DVDs back into
circulation that would be a huge loss our friends of the library make um you know over in between 16 and $20,000 at their Book Sales uh which comes back to support the library but it could not happen if people were not doing that
work so it's essential yeah absolutely and and and you don't want someone on the town payroll sitting there for two hours folding paper if you can help it you know budget Wise It's so much nicer to to make sure that somebody you know else is helping us while we're like
doing all the all the boring stuff like bills and things but um yeah it it is wonderful and then they become part of the community Too part of our you know our our whole team car Carol's part of our family um she made my daughter a
wonderful hat this was a few years ago she knit this hat and um she asked me what my daughter's favorite color was and then few weeks later she came in with this this great hat and that's such a connection for me um to her so
absolutely people become you know kind of part of your your family M and we do we have uh at the senior center actually we have someone who's a senior tax worker program helping to produce this show now uh and Delena and she's going
to be helping us organize it and and connect the guests and try to make sure that we have the graphics together she's helping at the the studio here and um and so there we have people in this program as well but then we have at the
senior center um let's see we have people even just greeters at the front door I mean you can't hire a staff person to just sit there and greet people but it makes such a big difference because people come in and go where am I going you know what am I
which room am I in or how do I find this and they just they just feel that right away that welcoming you know feeling and we feel like that's that's so worth it you know and so we have greeters and we have um people helping with the lunch
program to take registration we have people helping in the kitchen in our social Day program Meals on Wheels drivers every day uh we're delivering like 140 or 150 meals and they're all just not all of them are senior tax
workers so you don't have to be a a tax worker to have a volunteer job but um you know these positions are available to get people some money off their taxes so it's really nice yeah so um so one of
the other things that is really important is uh there's like a horrible uh and problem with loneliness and people I think who who are engaged
in the community are just so much happier it's they they're having there are studies about that it's really good for your health e even to volunteer like physically mentally you know didn't you have someone who was teaching a class
over at the the library who was was she a a Spanish ESL teacher or somebody who was I think she was a senior Tex worker P person yeah we do have some folks um who run kind of either special interest groups or we have a couple volunteers
one of our um Library trustees Deb Robson volunteers to do um an English convers a circle so some of these are they're not they're not even classes they're that opportunity to practice a language whether it's English whether it's French um and you know we have
volunteers who come in who have these special skills who are able to facilitate those those programs or they run we have a genealogy special interest group so you have somebody who has these great skills and wants to share them with other people in the community uh
that's a wonderful way to participate and speaking of skills one of our newer and most popular programs the fix it clinics that we do every other month and that's going to be coming up the first Sunday in April and uh we're always looking for volunteers but we can get people to help with small electronics
clothing uh uh household appliances uh sometimes even computers uh and having somebody come in and be able to offer somebody else in the community this feels broken to me but I think it can be fixed I don't want to throw it away I want to be able to replace it I don't want to have to replace said I want to be able to reuse this if there's a quick
fix and we have people fixing vacuum cleaners and toasters and sewing machines and things like that that U and it's not only a great opportunity for somebody with those skills to show them off but an opportunity for uh people to come in and chat with each other and learn things because one thing that the Fixit volunteer clear volunteers are
great at is telling people exactly what they're doing and how they're doing it so you can go on and fix stuff on your own in the future and some of the younger people are finding out learning from them as well how to fix other things so it's a great intergenerational program and then you're saving money
you're saving the environment from throwing junk away you know you're you're actually fixing something and and you're meeting other people who who love to do do that as well we do see that the coaches learning from each other um and in fact one of them I know uh there was
kind of this jump over you know um the person had brought in I don't remember what it was a lamp or something they needed to have fixed and someone who knew something about Electronics was helping them with that the person who had brought in the lamp to be fixed overheard what was happening at the next
table over and that person knew how to help fix the thing that the other person so this one person went from being someone who needed a fix to somebody that sounded terrible somebody who needed to have something fixed to
somebody who could help somebody else um so I love that yeah it's really fantastic I mean again the the wide variety of stuff we had somebody with a a hoverboard somebody with a bicycle somebody just needed a zipper replaced and uh from no bit no matter how big how
small I mean like it's a great way to get stuff done and feel like you're taking part in a community event that might otherwise not be there for you yeah and and and we see a lot of people who are retired folks who have amazing skills I mean I I had a board member who
was a retired architect and she was helping me with you know like room set up plans and helping with capital planning and saying okay that wouldn't work because you know for the building um and so it's you just never know where
your skills are going to fit in and um it's it's just wonderful to to be able to count on people like that um and and create Community yeah and we want people to know how valuable that is you know people have the skills and uh you want to say you know that is really valuable
we want that you know bring us that yeah so if you want to feel good about the world come to our volunteer fair just even just to meet people it's really fun so it is Saturday March 22nd from 1
until 4:00 p.m. and it's at the chelsford senior center and we'll be working together to make that happen with volunteers and staff so than lots of community members so thank you so much did you have anything else from the library you wanted to plug before we're
going I'm glad we got the fix it clinics in that's a great volunteer a use of volunteers too it's fabulous yeah absolutely I mean uh the other great big thing that we're looking forward to is the one book Chels for event which is going to be coming up in April we are going to have Pulitzer Prize winner lean
woo coming to talk about her book Master Slave husband wife this incredible non-fiction account of enslaved people escaping from terrible circumstances and what their lives were like after that so that is coming up in April keep an eye on the library calendar for that and uh hopefully we'll see you all there okay
Hope Springs Eternal right thank you so much thanks for coming and thank you for watching everybody have a great day [Music]