Bart Kendrick , ARRA Broadband Initiative Program

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Retirement wasn’t enough for Bart Kendrick. After a long career in advertising and public relations, he found himself drawn back to the work world.

Jim Fischer , Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter Florida Inc.

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Jim Fischer retired in 2000 at age 59 after three decades as CEO of a youth services profit in Minnesota and moved to central Florida. But soon he began volunteering for an organization that builds homes for the poor, Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter Florida Inc. It wasn’t long before Habitat representatives asked him to serve on the fundraising committee, then the board and, two years later, in the top job.

“That magic carrot out there – early retirement – didn’t fit for me,” Jim says, “I really like to work. I really like to contribute.”

Roger Forrester , Mature Worker Connection

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As founder of the Mature Worker Connection (MWC) in Tucson, Roger Forrester put his years of human resources experience to work for people over 50. After a long stint as a human resources director at the University of Minnesota, Forrester retired and moved to Pima County in Arizona. He found that many of his new friends and neighbors over 50 were interested in finding jobs but didn’t know how to go about it. In 2003 Forrester began to shop around the idea for an employment agency dedicated to helping them.

Marilyn Johnson , VCS International Service Learning Ghana Exchange Program

Marilyn Johnson raised three children and supported her family doing a variety of jobs, including substitute teacher, playground director, paraprofessional teacher and piece worker for Levi Strauss. Urged on by a teacher and assistant principal, she decided to have a classroom of her own. She graduated from college at the age of 43 with a degree in secondary social studies.

Elaine Santore , Umbrella of the Capital District

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Motivated by the difficulty their own family members had in remaining in their homes, Elaine Santore and a partner started Umbrella of the Capital District in Schenectady, N.Y., to provide “handypeople” to do home maintenance for older adults. “When we started, people were going into nursing homes because they could not maintain their homes,” she explains. “There were people who had lived through the Great Depression, fought in World Wars, helped each other and never accepted charity.

Ann López , Center for Farmworker Families

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Ann López taught for many years at a community college and was particularly proud of the environmental science course outline she created. On two occasions, her colleagues elected her “Humanitarian of the Year.”

Then one day she read a series in the local newspaper in which farmworkers were repeatedly referred to, she says, as if they were “farming implements in the farming process.” The articles brought back painful memories of her childhood growing up in a Mexican-American family in Southern California at a time when laws prevented interracial marriage.

Mark Noonan , Elders in Action

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Editor’s Note: Here is Mark Noonan’s encore story in his own words.

In 2004, I was 52 years old and at the apex of my career as an executive in high technology. Unfortunately, that meant spending a lot of time laying people off, downsizing and sending careers offshore. It was on an extended trip to China, where I was outsourcing a factory, when my life was suddenly turned upside down. I was informed that my wife, Carrie, had fallen at home while working on our condo and had passed away.

Jan Hively , Shift

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In 2007 at age 75, Jan Hively co-founded Shift as a clearinghouse for ideas, programs and people seeking more satisfaction from work. Shift is a network to support people in midlife who seek greater meaning in life and work. Some of Shift’s members want encore careers. Others want to apply their experience and skill sets to civic agencies or nonprofit organizations in exchange for a modest stipend. Still others may simply want to "give back" to the world as volunteers.