Category Archives for Voluntarism

Raimondo Rolls out Educational Initiative to Financially Empower Rhode Islanders

Published in the Pawtucket Times, August 2, 2013

Everybody has been hit hard over the years with the economic downturn in the Ocean State. The statistics are startling about the impact on Rhode Islander’s pocketbooks. According to the Office of the General Treasurer, two-thirds of Rhode Islanders reported some difficulty in covering their expenses and paying bills. Startling the average borrow in our state has $13,221 in credit card debt, the 5th highest amount in the nation. Almost 47% of the Ocean State’s homeowners are “cost burdened,” that is home ownership costs more than 30 percent of their income.

During her first term, overcoming strong opposition of union groups, Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo, working with Governor Chafee and leadership in the General Assembly, successfully redesigned Rhode Island’s state-administered public employee pension system. Now the Smithfield native, and mother of two, who graduated from LaSalle Academy, Harvard University and Yale Law School, who became a Rhode Scholar at Oxford University, goes into full gear to financially empower the state’s residents to make informed disciplined choices to achieve their financial goals.

Raimondo’s interest in financial empowerment came from her memories of growing up in a modest-income family, and a house with three kids and her grandfather. “My family had to become very smart about saving and budgeting,” she noted. By financial juggling and hard work, she was able along with her two siblings to attend college. According to Raimndo, getting a good college education allowed her to climb up the career ladder and eventually run for General Treasurer.

Building a Prosperous Financial Future

Recognizing that everyone could use a little free help understanding and managing their finances, last October, Raimondo, in partnership with the Providence-based Capital Good Fund, kicked off their financial empowerment initiative to provide guidance, though the Rhode Island Financial Coaching Corps, to provide free financial help to Rhode Islanders balance their home budgets, managing debt, building up credit and plan for their retirement.

According to Raimondo, becoming financially secure and taking care of your family can become tricky with the huge number of financial products available today. One can become confused with the different types of mortgage and banking products available, especially the proliferation of pay day loans, credit cards and reverse mortgages, she says. “If people are not careful they can be hit hard by hidden fees or hidden risks by choosing the wrong product,” she says.

Recently, Raimondo took her Smart Money Tour out on the road visiting local libraries, farmers markets and senior centers, “right into the community,” she says, noting that it might become a permanent initiative if it proves to be successful. At these locations treasury staff, through an online computer data base, (treasury.ri.gov/unclaimed) also helps people locate their lost or abandoned property for free. Unclaimed property includes items such as long forgotten bank accounts, stocks and dividends and life insurance claims. During the last fiscal year, Treasury returned more than $8 million to over 8,000 Rhode Islanders.

Supporting Common Goals

According to Executive Director Andy Posner, of the Providence-based Capital Good Fund, he met Raimondo during her campaign for Treasurer and found a kindred soul. She had similar interests in bringing financial literacy to Rhode Islanders and a desire to fight predatory practices (pay day loans that have interest rates of 260 percent and rent-to-own centers where consumers ultimately pay more than the product is worth).

Capital Good Fund trains volunteers, for the Empower RI initiative, in financial coaching techniques and provides them with curricula to use either in one-to-one sessions with employees at companies who contract for the service or to those interested in getting help, learning about this assistance at community events or through newspaper coverage or social service agencies.

Since the inception of the program over 200 Rhode Islanders have been helped, says Posner. Currently, the Financial Service Corps, has 17 active volunteers, he added.

Joining the Financial Coaching Corps

Jerry Leveille, a Burrillville resident, jumped at being a volunteer with the Financial Coaching Corps after reading the mission of Empower RI, “Moving Rhode Island forward – one person at a time – through financial empowerment.” The 68-year old retired banker, who served as a senior vice president and lending officer, had worked for over 51 years at Warwick-based Greenwood Credit Union.

Filling out the application at the Capital Good Fund, he was accepted, trained and now has worked with two clients.

In one case, Leveille stated that 83-year-old widow learned the art of balancing her checkbook after the death of her husband, who had managed the family’s household account, paying the bills for over 58 years. The woman still coping with the recent death of her husband only needed a couple of sessions to learn this financial skill.

Meanwhile, Leveille says that a 62-year old woman who worked for a large Rhode Island company for over 30 years made a personal decision to retire. She would later learn that this financial decision would reduce her income by a whopping 40 percent. This was combined with mortgage problems. The single older woman owed more on her family homestead than its market value. She could not get her out of state mortgage company to lower the eight percent interest rate or allow her to extend payments.

Before coming to Leveille “her only choice was to walk away from the mortgage or continue to work,” he said, noting that if this occurred the lender would most likely suffer a $60,000 loss. “As a volunteer I was not going to talk her out of retirement, it was not my role to do this. Ultimately, the Financial Coaching Corps. volunteer would refer his client to Rhode Island Housing who is in the process of negotiating a lower interest rate on her behalf.

“We must be very nonjudgmental when we work with our clients,” says Leveille, noting that humans do make mistakes they regret when making bad financial decisions. “We are there to be helpful. It is what it is and we try to find the appropriate solution,” he says when counseling client.

Cumberland resident, Randy Sacilotto, who serves as Navigant’s vice president of business and community development, joined Raimondo’s effort to ratchet up the state’s financial literacy knowledge. Sacilotto, with 21 years working for the credit union, also brings to his clients the expertise he gained from training to become a certified financial counselor, accredited by the National Credit Union Foundation.

Sacilotto, 52, has met with two individuals and one couple, teaching them how a household budget works and another couple on tips on refinancing their home.

Working on budgeting, Sacilotto told his clients to track the spending of “every penny,” for two to four weeks. Write everything down, he says, because you will learn where your money is spent.

“We don’t always actually know what we spend on things,” he says, and if you track your results, cutting spending on things you don’t need can allow you to put your money into more important things, like saving for a house,” notes Sacilotto.

Finding Satisfaction in Financial Problem Solving

Emerson Gardner, a retired manager of the New York-based Bank of America’s International Banking Office, brought this experience and working in the City’s AARP Money Management Program, to the Ocean State in 2010. Two years later he would join Raimondo’s Financial Coaching Corps.

One of the original volunteers, Gardner is already working on his fifth client (their ages range from early 30s to their 50s). “Any time you help a person get their credit rating up or confront their debt problems it begins with creating a budget,” he says, noting that people need to learn how to live within their incomes.

While Gardner’s clients profit from his expertise gleaned from his banking days and a Masters of Business Administration received from Harvard University, he benefits, too. “I get satisfaction in helping clients solve their problems.” The retiree likes the flexibility of the program, allowing him to decide who to take and when to schedule the counseling session.

“For a person who has financial skills and the time to give because they are retiring, it is a great thing to do,” quips Gardner.

Those interested in volunteering for the Financial Coaching Corps, or meeting with a financial coach should visit http://www.fcCorpss.org.

Pawtucket’s Smart Money Tour is scheduled for August 30, 2013, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the City’s Leon Mathieu Senior Center, 420 Main Street, Pawtucket RI.

Herb Weiss, LRI ’12, is a Pawtucket-based write who covers health care, aging and medical issues. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com

Volunteerism Leads to New Career Directions

           Published June 15, 2012, Pawtucket Times

           A growing number of aging baby boomers who volunteer on nonprofit boards may find their true calling when they retire.  Volunteering in your later years may lead to new, more exciting careers where passion, energy and love of mission bring about opportunities to serve your community. 

           Fifty two-year old Kathy Anzeveno, who specialized in early childhood development, taught for over 27 years in North Providence and The Gordon School inEast Providence.   Despite raising Joe, her 21 year old son, with her husband, Frank, theSouth Kingstownresident worked for the past nine years as a volunteer for the Matty Fund.  She now serves as the full-time Executive Director of the Wakefield,Rhode Islandnonprofit group, whose mission is to provide family resources, promote patient safety and improve the quality of life for children and families living with epilepsy.

           Nationally, epilepsy affects over three million people. Children United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) estimates that over 300,000 children with this disorder are under age 15, with up to 50,000 deaths occurring annually from prolonged seizures as well as seizure related accidents.

           According to Anzeveno, she made a decision to retire in her early fifties, and to make a difference in another area she was passionate about, one involving lifelong friends, Debra and Richard Siravo.  The Siravos lost their 5 year old son, Matthew, because of complications of epilepsy.  In recent years the organization had grown prompting the founders to need an Executive Director to oversee the implementation of the nonprofit group’s strategic plan, fundraise and implementation of its programs and services.  Over the years, the Siravos saw commitment and capability when Anzeveno came around to stuff envelopes, organize fundraisers and other activities.  The job offer was made…it was quickly accepted, too. 

          Anzeveno explained that the Siravos needed to do something positive in Matty’s memory that would allow families to connect personally with other families.  “The couple felt compelled to fulfill a need for families dealing with epilepsy.  For parents, there is nothing that compares to the suffering/guilt/uncertainty when a child is diagnosed with anything, let alone a potentially disabling disorder,” she said, stressing that some stigma is still attached to people with epilepsy, so parents are often times reluctant to share or acknowledge publically their child’s health issue.

         With years of volunteer work under her belt and expertise as an educator in child development, Anzeveno knew that there was an extreme need for the Matty Fund’s programs and services.  As a volunteer, she was especially touched by the families who, besides dealing their child experiencing regular and often severe seizures, had to tackle the added issues of developmental delays, physical impairments, as well as medication/treatment side effects.

The Matty Fund

         According to Anzeveno, from the tragedy of her personal, longtime friends, was born a foundation that truly helps families affected by epilepsy— started in the Siravo family basement, she remembers getting bruised from bumping into the foosball table while working on auction items for one of its first major fundraisers.  “We had donated items and sticky notes scattered everywhere,” she says.

        Five years ago, the fledgling nonprofit relocated from its basement headquarters to an office space in Wakefield, opening as a community resource center.  Anzeveno notes that just one month ago, The Matty Fund moved again, just down the hall to a larger space to accommodate its growing needs to serve as a hub for support groups, meetings and program activities.  Currently, there are 150 families in the nonprofit group’s data base, mostly Rhode Islanders. 

Assisting Young Children with Epilepsy

      Anzeveno and her volunteers will outreach to families with children with epilepsy, providing educational and emotional support.   Monthly group meetings will be held throughout theOceanState, in Lincoln, Warwick andWakefield.   Lecture series in acute care facilities will provide information to both families and health care professionals, too.

      The Matty Fund also holds a series of events including the Snow Angel Ball Dinner Dance and Auction, Matty’s 5k Run and Walk for Epilepsy, and the Matty’s Memorial Golf for Epilepsy, to fund the operations of the organization.   Funding also supports epilepsy research atBrownUniversity, providing scholarships for college bound students with epilepsy, as well as fundingCampMatty, a therapeutic riding summer day camp for youngsters with epilepsy.  Friendships are forged between families and their epileptic children at the pumpkin festival, egg hunts and at the Matty Hatty dance-athon held in schools around the state that promotes epilepsy awareness.  

            For many aging baby boomers, their job has just become a means to an end. In their later years they are working hard to economically keep afloat, to pay off a mortgage, to rising household costs, and to buy groceries.  Aging baby boomers know they will live a longer period of their lives in retirement then previous generations.  Like Anzeveno, many will seek out ways to become more fulfilled with their lives, by becoming a volunteer.  A new career path might even come about because they volunteered at a nonprofit, helping others and making their community a better place to live. 

          For more information about the Matty Fund call 401/789-7330 or go to www.MattyFund.org.

         Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who covers aging, healthcare, and medical issues.  His Commentaries are published in two Rhode Island Daily’s The Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call.

The Best Of…Volunteer Baby Boomers Work to Uplift Their Communities

Published September 17, 2008, All Pawetucket All the Time

           Throughout his life, Arthur Plitt has never seen a time when he has not expended lots of time and energy to support a good cause.  Over his fifty eight years, he has volunteered as a non-paid volunteer with dozens of nonprofit organizations throughout the Ocean State. The Oak Hill resident juggles a part-time job as a private mediator while allocating countless hours to his volunteer activities. 

             Two sons in Cub Scouts would propel the young man to take the volunteer position of Advancement Committee, chairman of the Boy Scouts of Rhode Island’s BlackstoneValley division.  A love of animals would also lead him to Roger Williams Zoo where he became a docent.  Plitt would also join the Rhode Island Jaycees and serve in its Senate and later work as an ombudsman for the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care.

 Kudos the Plitt

            Plitt now sits on the Governor’s Commission on Disabilities, heads the Pawtucket Neighborhood Alliance, and Oak Hill Neighborhood Association, serves on the Blackstone Watershed Council’s Board of Directors, and sits on the Pawtucket Arts Festival Executive Committee.  Still, the aging baby boomer still has time to work with the terminally ill as a Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island volunteer.  With 1,220 hours logged in this year supporting dying patients and their families it is no surprise that he was one of 12 statewide award winners of the Volunteer Center of Rhode Island’s 2008 outstanding volunteers.

             Plitt’s philosophical views on volunteerism can be simply summed up by his favorite phrase. That is, “The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough.”  “Butterflies, like many species, accomplish much in their short life spans.  With longer life spans, human beings are given an opportunity to accomplish a lot more and they have the time to share”, says Plitt.    

             While Plitt works with a diverse group of nonprofit organizations, fifty-four year old Patricia Zacks focuses her time and efforts on supporting the arts in Pawtucket.  Over the years, this proprietor of the Providence-based camera shop, The Camera Werks has annually organized the City’s photo contest, brought photo workshops into several public schools and senior centers.  In addition, she serves on the Board of the Friends of Excellence in Art Education, chairs the Pawtucket Arts Festival’s Program Committee and sits on its Executive Committee, and assists and networks local artists to sell their one-of-a-kind art work at Open Studio events.

             In 2007, in recognition of her efforts to support Pawtucket artists Zacks was named President Emeritus of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative when she stepped down after serving six years. That Year the Pawtucket Foundation the Oak Hill resident was the co-recipient of the group’s prestigious “Person of the Year” award. 

 Baby Boomers Volunteer at Higher Rates 

             Aging Baby Boomers, Plitt and Zacks, are not unique in their desire to give back to their local community.  According to a 2006 Issue Brief published by the Corporation for National & Community Service (NCS), today’s Baby Boomers volunteer at a higher rate than past generations did at roughly the same age.  Findings from the 2007 Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering (KBBV) report were cited throughout this NCS Issue Brief.

             The 2007 (KBBV) report noted that the volunteer rate for those ages 46 to 57 today, is significantly higher than both the 25.3 percent recorded by the 46 to 57 age cohort in 1974 (Greatest Generation, born 1910-1930) and the 23.2 percent recorded in 1989 (Silent Generation, born 1931-1945.)

             Additionally, the 2007 (KBBV) report also found that remaining in the workforce increased the likelihood that a Baby Boomer will continue to volunteer. 60.5 percent Baby Boomer volunteers who leave the workforce will continue to volunteer the following year compared to 69.3 percent who continue to work.

             The 2007 (KBBV) report also mentions two predictors of the relatively high volunteer rates of Baby Boomers: high education level and having children later in life. 

             Middle age adults are nearly three times likely to have a four-year college degree today.  When their children leave home the Boomers would maintain their high volunteer rates because of their high education levels and expectations that they will work longer, the report notes.

            The 2007 (KBBV) report notes that today’s Boomers, ages 41 to 59, are more likely to volunteer with religious organizations. The second most popular place to volunteer is educational or youth service organizations.

          Finally, the (KBBV) 2007 report findings indicate that the more hours a Baby Boomer devotes to volunteering, the more like he or she will volunteer throughout their lives.  Nearly 9 of 10 Baby Boomer volunteers who serve 100 to 499 hours a year volunteer again the following year, compared to just over 5 in 10 who serve 1 to 14 hours.

             Aging Baby Boomers Plitt and Zacks have brought their life experiences, time and energy to making their community a better place to live, just like millions of their Baby Boomer cohorts throughout the nation. 

             For more information about volunteering contact Volunteer Center of Rhode Island.  Go to www.vcri.org.

             Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based free lance writer who covers aging, health care and medical issues.   This article was published in the September 17, 2008 issue of All Pawtucket All the Time. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.