|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
Some related articles : |
 |
Older Folk Think World is Worse But Feel Volunteer Urge
WASHINGTON - Even though older adults think the world is worse off than three years ago, they have been spurred to volunteer by the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a poll released Sunday. The poll of Americans older than 50 found that nearly 40 percent said the attacks made them more likely to volunteer. Half of the 600 surveyed said they were regular volunteers. The poll was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for Civic Ventures, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco that advocates for senior citizens. The national survey was conducted in July. The margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points. A similar survey was conducted by the same group three years ago. In his State of the Union speech in January, Bush asked that Americans volunteer more. Applications to the Peace Corps, Teach for America and AmeriCorps are all up this year. The White House Office of Homeland Security plans to give $10.3 million in grants to train volunteers, particularly older Americans, in emergency response and preparedness efforts and public health initiatives. The administration has also established USA Freedom Corps, Bush's national service initiative, which he hopes will grow as popular as John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps and Bill Clinton's AmeriCorps. The poll for Civic Ventures showed a shift in older Americans' views of retirement, from one of relaxation to one of utility. About 60 percent of those polled said they looked at retirement as a time to be active, involved, start new activities and set goals. About 24 percent said that retirement is a time to enjoy leisure activities and rest. ''Many are finding that they want to remain active and involved and the volunteerism fulfills this need and desire to help others,'' said Peter Hart, who conducted the survey. ''That's a huge change,'' said Marc Freedman, president of Civic Ventures. ``People realize that they are going to live for three or four decades in fairly good health in this stage of life. . . . Who can play golf for 30 years?'' Other poll results: • 53 percent feel the state of the country is ''not so good'' or ''not good at all,'' compared with 33 percent in 1999. • Only 4 percent feel these are ''very good'' times. • With government incentives, particularly prescription-drug benefits or health coverage, the number of older Americans volunteering might double.FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Action on Aging distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
|
