ABSTRACT
Like death and taxes, retirement comes to all of us—if we live long enough. Now one in eight Americans is age sixty-five or over, according to a report on the NBC Evening News, May 20, 1996. For every sixty-five men there are one hundred women over age sixty-five. In an earlier NBC report I learned that about half of all retired people do some volunteer work. But that means that the other half does not do volunteer work—some because they cannot and others for various reasons. The retirement stories in this book illustrate, however, how important volunteer work is—for those who receive help and those who give it. Quite clearly, everyone benefits. As indicated in the appendix of this book, senior citizens are the fastest growing segment of American society. Therefore, we not only need to provide for their needs but we also benefit from their increasingly important contribution to our society.
