Volunteer Opportunities and Events

Irish Senior Connect - Volunteer Opportunities

Calling All Volunteers

For those of you out there looking for a meaningful way to contribute to the Irish community, we have several ways that you can get involved and give something back. Currently we are working on three very important projects that need volunteers. CIIS is a small organization and in order to develop and improve the great services we provide to our community, we need to harness the power and skills of dedicated volunteers

The first is the Golden Diners Program at the Irish American Heritage Center. This program serves nutritious lunches to seniors and runs at the IAHC every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. There are no particular requirements for volunteers with this program but a background in food services or a willingness to take a food services licensure course would certainly be a great advantage.

The second project we are working on at this time is the Senior Health Insurance Program. This program offers guidance to seniors about their Medicare entitlements. We are trying to recruit long term volunteers who would be interested in taking a training course to become certified as a SHIP counsellor. This is a great opportunity to gain some in-depth knowledge about Medicare and assist those who are a little confused by the whole system.

Lastly, we are looking to recruit volunteer operators for Irish Senior Connect, a national listening and information line geared towards Irish and Irish and Irish American seniors. Currently based at the Irish Pastoral Center in Boston, the line is staffed by trained volunteers who provide a listening ear to seniors who want to have a chat, discuss a problem, or obtain information on local resources. The program has its origins in Co. Meath where a senior center recognized a need amongst the local isolated seniors for meaningful social interaction with others. Irish Senior Connect has enjoyed great success in Boston and the program will this year be rolled out to Chicago where it will be run by Chicago Irish Immigrant Support.

We are very excited to have been chosen from the member centers of the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers to be next to house the listening line. We are still in the initial planning stages of the project but if you are interested in finding out more about Irish Senior Connect or volunteering with the any of the projects discussed here please call the office on773-282-8445 and speak with Paul. If you are a senior and you would like someone to listen to you, you can call the listening line on 1-855-249-5146. The listen line is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday between 9am and 11am, and on Fridays and Saturdays between 1pm and 3pm.