Story Archives of 'Volunteers'

This week, as part of our series on the economy, Working It Out, we’re asking the question, has this recession changed us. The Carsey Institute at the University New Hampshire just released a study that examines a particular slice of that question. It looks at the impact of the recession on civic life. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg has more.

The term “volunteer computing” conjures an image of good-hearted people devoting hours to help those who can’t compute, or maybe populating spreadsheets for non-profits. Well, not quite. Volunteer computing lets you use your computer’s idle processing speed to do calculations for scientific research in everything from astronomy to climate change. Brady Carlson, Word of Mouth’s resident internet sherpa, is with us to explain.

Media Post: Intel Marries 'Volunteer Computing' To Facebook

A list of Volunteer Computing Projects

(Photo by Craig Rodway via Flickr/Creative Commons)

After finishing college, Beth wanted to devote some time to community service in her hometown of Manchester. City Year New Hampshire provided her with an opportunity to serve her city.

In Belknap and Merrimack Counties, the community action programs match seniors who need some help and company with those who enjoy providing both. As part of this Senior Companions programs, Phyllis Abbott welcomes Barbara Pierce into her home once a week.

There's a positive side to an aging state! Seniors have more time to volunteer, be politically active and use their years of institutional knowledge to teach and assist historical societies. A new report finds too that the older generation leads all other generations in their input to a community's social capital. But the relationship between the elderly and their community must be symbiotic; they can only help their communities; if their communities make themselves accessible to the elderly in terms of transportation, services and access to restaurants and the arts. Today we wrap up our series looking at this aging demographic's relation to their communities, and how communities can harness this growing amount of "senior power".


Guests

• Lew Feldstein, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, which sponsored a new research report on the state of social capital in New Hampshire, and co-author of a book on social capital, Better Together: Resorting the American Community
• Martha Bauman, columnist on aging for the Keene Sentinel and on health issues and senior life for New Hampshire Magazine; former chair of the Monadnock Area Committee on Aging and former director of the Monadnock RSVP program for eight years
• Nancy Spater - Director of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (R.S.V.P.) for Merrimack County
• TBA