WORK

11/18/2008 - 02:30:23pm

Joe Petrucci, a former independent trucker in western Pennsylvania, used to transport steel. Today, at 77, he earns union wages 25 hours each week, driving chemotherapy patients to doctor’s appointments, older adults to grocery stores, and children with low-income working moms to day care centers.

06/30/2007 - 10:22:45am

Just how bad is the nursing shortage? The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects demand for more than 1 million new health professionals between now and 2014.

11/16/2009 - 10:56:11am

Without hesitation, David Zowin, a 43-year-old with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome, expresses his feelings for Civitan Foundation employee Jon Cochran, 73.

11/16/2009 - 10:57:15am

Many nonprofits across the country are struggling with a problem that may be avoidable: instability after an executive director leaves. Executive Service Corps of Chicago, or ESC, helps organizations during that critical time “between directors” by creating a pool of experienced former directors willing to take short-term assignments benefiting nonprofits.

11/16/2009 - 10:59:49am

In the community and the workplace, 50-plus employees of the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department in Lawrenceville, Ga., are teachers and confidants.

Even inmates see their value. “Most inmates are under 30 and recognize that a person 50-plus has a lot of life experience and has been exposed to a lot of life’s problems,” says Chief Deputy Mike Boyd. “That same inmate will not seek out that type of advice and counseling from a much younger deputy.”

11/16/2009 - 11:00:31am

In its mission to build homes for the poor, Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter Florida Inc. takes full advantage of the age makeup of its community.

Many retirees who settle in central Florida have time and skills to contribute, says the nonprofit’s CEO, Jim Fischer. He knows well the appeal of working during the traditional retirement years.

06/30/2007 - 10:22:45am

Some might call the Mature Worker Connection (MWC) an employment agency for adults over 50. Dan Toth, 57, calls it “a lifesaver.”

11/16/2009 - 11:01:13am

When the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) needs a position filled, it often calls on people who already know the job: former employees. Those who leave the organization are placed on adjunct status, meaning they can return when they want – assuming a job is available – without having to repeat the hiring process, including the paperwork and training.

11/16/2009 - 11:01:57am

What started 35 years ago as a school offering clerical courses to women returning to the work force has become a place where students of all ages facing a host of disadvantages can work toward a career in the building trades.

06/28/2007 - 10:00:00pm

The idea for the Rainbow Intergenerational Child Care surfaced back in the late 1980s, when workers at the Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers, a social service provider running dozens of programs for low-income elderly in Miami, noticed more and more people bringing their grandchildren along for social time at the organization’s senior center.

11/20/2008 - 01:27:06pm

By Claire Altman and Jess Geevarghese

The availability of millions of talented, experienced people searching for encore careers provides creative nonprofits with an opportunity to search for new ways to tackle problems that may have seemed intractable.

06/29/2007 - 11:43:57am

There’s a “U.C. Berkeley way of doing things,” says 65-year-old Irma Smith, who has been doing things that way for 29 years. Thanks to a website on the University of California campus, she doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

11/16/2009 - 10:53:30am

At 90, Leonard and Naomi Tucker go to the theater. They’re active with community groups. They even swing dance. But they know their limitations. “As we were getting older and living in our own house, it was getting difficult doing all the maintenance,” Naomi Tucker says.

06/29/2007 - 11:43:57am

It may seem like a long way from steel mills to treadmills, but both have played a major role in John “Jack” Snyder’s life. Snyder worked for 23 years in the steel mills, all the while nursing a passion for physical training. Today Snyder, 70, is instilling that passion in others—“all ages, shapes, and sizes”—as a coach at the YMCA of Greater Rochester, one of the largest Ys in the nation.