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- ican!

# Volunteers

Volunteers play an essential role in delivering senior nutrition services — without them, many local service providers would not be able to provide support to older adults effectively. Learning to recruit, engage, and maintain strong relationships with volunteers will help your program thrive. 

## Quick Guides

                    - Tips for Working With Students  — Tips from the Center Excellence in Public Health and the Center for  Excellence in Aging Health at the University of New England
                    - Project HELLO  — A multiphase effort to engage older adults in Rhode Island by utilizing volunteers

##  

##  Guides

                    - Successful Strategies for Recruiting, Training, and Utilizing Volunteers — SAMHSA handbook 
                    - Enhancing Socialization Through Meaningful Volunteer Connections  — How volunteers can  provide socialization for older adults
                    - Tips for Recruiting and Working With Volunteers  — Create and maintain strong relationships
                    - Volunteer Engagement and Recruitment  — Resource list

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##  **Presentations**

                    - Grand Rounds for Evidence-Based Program Providers — Series where ACL grantees share how they are delivering evidence-based programs in the virtual/remote environment, successes of their work, and lessons learned
                    - Thinking Outside the Box Video Series — ACL video series on volunteers in the aging services network                       - Fireside Chat With the New York City Department for the Aging (YouTube)
                      - Fireside Chat With SDSU Cooperative Extension (YouTube) 
                    - Innovative Volunteer Models To Promote Social Connection — Commit to Connect webinar featuring the Give 5 program, SAGE, and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation                       - Innovative Volunteer Models To Promote Social Connection Slides 
                    - Senior Center Round Table – Celebrating Volunteers! — NCOA event to share perspectives on volunteerism in senior centers (free registration required to view the video)

## Reports

                    - Volunteerism Study  — ACL's Office of Performance and Evaluation final report                       - Economic Value of Volunteers  — Key results
                      - Effective Volunteer Practices  — Examples
                      - Study Briefing — Video presentation
                      - Volunteer Stories Brief  — Insights 

##  Resources

                    - Tips for Recruiting and Supporting Volunteers as Evidence-Based Program Leaders — NCOA article on successfully working with volunteers
                    - Project Ideas for Volunteer Dietetic Interns, Nutrition Students, and Professionals — Activity suggestions that benefit both the nutrition program and the volunteer
                    - Give 5 Program — Initiative connecting retired or nearly retired older adults with nonprofit organizations
                    - Volunteer Utilization  — Tips on nontraditional roles for volunteers

## Related Topics

                    - Instructional Campus on Aging Nutrition (ican!)
                    - Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

*Last modified on 01/11/2024*

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ACL funds the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center to build the capacity of senior nutrition programs funded by the Older Americans Act to provide high-quality, person-centered services and enhance program sustainability and resiliency.

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An official website of the Administration for Community Living, an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.