Extracted from article by James D. Coppinger published in Spark Magazine (June 2025)
When Carol retired, she said to herself, “Now what?” She wanted to stay active and be of service. She contacted Milestone Senior Services to explore volunteer opportunities—and was surprised to find that through the RSVP program there was a list of over a hundred volunteer opportunities in the community.
Milestone not only engages volunteers to help with our own programing, but through RSVP(a program offered through AmeriCorps Seniors) we connects people over the age of 55 to volunteer opportunities throughout the community. We provide this service in both Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties.
Carol decide to volunteer with the Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC), which provides free literacy education to adults facing reading and language challenges. She began tutoring and quickly realized just how rewarding and fascinating the work was. She started as reading tutor and after a few years moved to being an English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor. Her longest ESL learner was a young woman from Peru who already had some college education from her home country and went on to earn a master’s degree in counseling here in the U.S.—with Carol helping her along the way. Carol describes it as both challenging and deeply energizing to be part of someone’s personal growth in this way. Over twelve years of volunteering, Carol has learned that these victories aren’t just personal achievements—they strengthen the whole community.
To anyone hesitant about getting involved, Carol offers this simple encouragement: All you really need is a willingness to show up and make a difference. Carol finds her volunteer work interesting, creative, enjoyable and rewarding!
Milestone Senior Services is a grantee of the AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program. AmeriCorps Seniors empowers people aged 55 and older to serve their communities. RSVP helps people find a volunteer opportunity that fits their passion. Milestone placed volunteers at their own agency and at other nonprofits throughout Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties. Contact RSVP at 269-382-0515 or apply on the Volunteer page of our website.
