Senior Volunteer Programs of Greater Siouxland

Senior Corps is a network of national service programs for Americans 55 years and older, made up of three primary programs that each take a different approach to improving lives and foster civic engagement.  Senior Corps volunteers commit their time to address critical community needs including academic tutoring and mentoring, elderly care, disaster relief and more. The three national programs compromise the Senior Corps: the Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and the Senior Companion Program (SCP).  Each was designed to achieve specific and varying goals related to volunteer service, but all were crafted on the same belief: those senior volunteers are valuable resources to meet community needs.

The purpose of the Senior Companion Program is to provide an opportunity for seniors to help other seniors maintain their dignity of independent living.  The program is designed for the purpose of providing opportunities for low-income persons aged 55 or over to serve as “senior companions” to persons with exceptional needs.  Senior companions may provide services designed to help older persons requiring long-term care, including services to persons receiving home health care, home-delivered meals or other nutrition services, services designed to help persons deinstitutionalized from mental hospitals, and other institutions; and services designed to assist persons having developmental disabilities and other special needs for companionship.”