Carroll County RSVP Director, Stacy Venteicher, says they participated in a recent nationwide competition from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). They are the federal funding point for several organizations like RSVP, the Foster Grandparents Program, AmeriCorps, Vista and many more.
This particular grant will be for the expansion of the RSVP program only. The organization has been active in Carroll County since 1974, and brings senior volunteers together with a variety of opportunities throughout the community.
They can even mobilize volunteers for blood drives, helping out at the food pantries, delivering meals and much more. The grant will help them start recruiting volunteers 55 and older in Crawford and Calhoun Counties to participate in the same types of opportunities available to seniors in Carroll County. Venteicher says this is also a huge benefit for the volunteers as they have a lot of life experience and a lot to give back to the community. It brings them a sense of pride, belonging and self-worth to help others. She also says it was important to her to bring these types of programs to more people in the rural portions of the state.
There were more applications in the competition than expected, so the grant program’s timeframe is abbreviated to just 10 months instead of the full 12 normally offered. Venteicher is hoping to have 25 new volunteers in each county by June 30, 2018, and says they have been given a Sept. 1 start date, but she had begun laying the groundwork in Calhoun County prior to the grant competition. She will also be seeing her long-time part-time RSVP employee, Melanie Miller, giving up her part-time position as the Director of the Carroll County Foster Grandparents Program to split her time between Carroll and Calhoun Counties. She will also be hiring a part-time coordinator in Crawford County. The Foster Grandparents Director’s position will be opened up for applicants soon. She says anyone 55 and older who is looking to volunteer to be part of the RSVP program need simply contact them by using the information provided below.
Phone: 712-792-4212
Office: 514 N. Court Street, #2, Carroll, Iowa
