Giving Back as a Second Act

The AARP’s new program Life Reimagined, encourages people over 55—the largest and most powerful segment of the workforce—to home in on their passion and create strong second acts. A good many of us Boomers will have to work to pay the bills, long after the usual retirement age. But can this be a time to follow a new calling?  To give ourselves completely to a cause, to pursue what we might refer to as "matters of the heart?" 

San Francisco social entrepreneur Marc Freedman has upped the ante even further, urging boomers to go out and change the world.  An impossible dream?  No,  not if we start at the local  level, and work  one community at a time. 

 

In 1997, Freedman began building a movement to tap the vast skills and experience of people in midlife and older. He founded an organization called Encore to encourage people to take up a social cause then he created the Purpose Prize, giving away over $5 million to hundreds of social innovators over 60.  Called “a MacArthur genius grant for retirees” this award, says Freedman,  “goes to everyday heroes who see a problem they can’t ignore. What they all had in common was a willingness to stretch their skills, embrace new situations, and take some amazing personal risks."

Charles Fletcher, a former telecom executive, created, SpiritHorse, a global network of therapeutic riding centers for people with disabilities—offering services free of charge.  At 53, Fletcher began volunteering at a local equine therapy center then plowed his Social Security checks into this venture. 

Referrals came in, and the program grew, and Fletcher has since helped more than 5,000 individuals worldwide. 

 His leap of faith?

“At one time I owed about $138,000 in credit card debt,” Fletcher says, “Since I was single I was able to take the risk. My daughters were out of college and established. I could afford to take the chance I might go bankrupt.”  

A human resources expert, Kate Williams gradually lost her sight at age 65, then started a job training program for the blind. “If I was going through so many challenges to simply keep my job" she said, "I had to ask: What must other visually impaired or blind people be experiencing to find one?” With no funding, Williams started working with the Adaptive Technology Services, to create a software program that would help the blind overcome employment barriers and function in a sighted world. This project was taken up by the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, where Williams now trains people for jobs in finance, industry, government, and nonprofit work.

Sixty-three year-old, David Campbell, a technology executive, sprang into action after hearing about the devastating Indian tsunami in Southeast Asia.  When he learned that the Internet was still working, he got on a plane, armed with a wireless router and duct tape. Once he arrived in Bang Tao, he began recruiting volunteers—turning good Samaritans with lile to no training in disaster situations into an effective response team.  When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, he mobilized a similar team in Mississippi.  His group, All Hands Volunteers, has helped 45,000 families, in six countries—providing immediate relief while bypassing bureaucratic red tape.

What’s stunning is the level of financial risk these activists assume in order to improve the lives of others.   “They fund their efforts in a variety of ways -- downsizing a home, raiding a retirement account, taking a side job,” says Freedman. “And the prize money they receive usually gets plowed right back into the project.”

In Europe many retirees are finding new rewards in the non-profit sector. Often these late bloomers are inspired by their activist children. In 1998 Arthur Dethomas went to Cambodia as part of his national service, helping the former French colony adapt to the legal system shared by neighboring countries.  When his Parisian parents, Emmanuelle and Jean-Paul came to visit, they took an active interest in Sala Bai, a school in Siem Reap, Cambodia, preparing disadvantaged youth for jobs in the burgeoning restaurant and hotel business.  

Impressed by the drive of these young people, the couple moved to Siem Reap and for two years Jean-Paul directed the school, while Emmanuelle handled communications.  Now back in Paris, Emmanuelle, 68, is president of Agir pour le Cambodge, the school's umbrella organization and Jean-Paul, 72, a former engineer and tech executive, is mentoring budding entrepreneurs. 

Who says there are no strong second acts in modern life?