By Karen Tewhey
Martha’s Vineyard has an aging population. One in 3 residents are 65 or older, exceeding the national average of 1 in 5. And the elder population is only getting bigger: It is the fastest-growing age group on the Island.
But on an Island where getting workers and services can be challenging, seniors are helping to fill the gap.
A local survey completed by Healthy Aging of Martha’s Vineyard (HAMV) revealed that in 2021, older adult volunteers donated 1 million hours of time to support local entities, with a total value of labor of $42 million. (The Independent Sector, a nationally recognized source of information and data relative to nonprofits, provides a metric of $40.97 per hour to determine the monetary value of a volunteer in Massachusetts in 2023.)
The number of volunteers is on the rise in the older group as well. In 2015, according to HAMV, 39 percent of those older than 65 years of age volunteered. By 2020, 54 percent of this age group was donating time to a local nonprofit or town committee.
The rate of volunteering on the Vineyard is significantly higher than the national average. National statistics show that 28.6 percent (2021) of this older age group volunteer. It is also higher than the state average of 28 percent for residents ages 16 and up.
Healthy Aging of Martha’s Vineyard is sponsoring a Vineyard Vision Fellowship that is surveying volunteerism on the Island. In a sample of 25 local nonprofits, there were 737 volunteers; 78 percent were 60 or older. On 12 Island nonprofit boards, 75 percent of all members were older adults, and 67 percent of the volunteers on the committees in four towns (Chilmark, Oak Bluffs, Aquinnah, West Tisbury) were adults over the age of 60.
Volunteers supplement the Island’s workforce. They donate time to many of the 150 nonprofit organizations that feed our neighbors, protect our environment, and provide social services to families.
Volunteers also ensure that town committees, like affordable housing and Community Preservation, have input from caring and engaged residents.
One concern, however, is the low percentage of younger citizens involved in town government.
Mark Leonard, Oak Bluffs’ newest select board member, emphasized the importance of contributing to the community. He also noted that they are “always trying to find younger people to be on town committees.”
One tactic being considered is to approach high school students and get them to join committees where they might have some interest, like the shellfish committee or harbor advisory committee. He would also like not only younger but more racially diverse representation on committees. But older people, he noted, have the time, and more flexible schedules. “If committees meet in the afternoon, this excludes many people who are working,” he noted.
One solution he recommended was to mandate Zoom meetings for committees so that the opportunities to participate would be maximized.
Volunteers also bring oversight and professional expertise to local charities as directors on boards or as advisory board members. This is especially true of retirees. Bob Laskowski, a physician and former CEO of Christiana Care Health System in Delaware, has been an articulate voice on the Dukes County Health Council. He co-chaired a subcommittee that looked at the housing crisis from a public health perspective. Now, officially “retired,” Bob continues to be active as a consultant, writer, speaker, and community volunteer. With his background in geriatric medicine, he is a valuable member of the executive committee of Healthy Aging Martha’s Vineyard.
“I volunteer because it is something that I feel led to do,” he said. “I do it because I enjoy it. Through it I have met many new friends, learned an enormous amount about several communities, and grown as a person. I plan to volunteer in some capacity, undoubtedly different from what I am doing now, for as long as I am able. Volunteering is simply part of my life. It is my work. At this point in my life, it is my life’s work.”
Many local programs are reliant upon volunteers to keep running. Vineyard Village at Home has a cadre of drivers, 95 percent over the age of 60. Chicken Alley relies on 45 senior volunteers to stock shelves and label consignment items.
Island Grown Initiative benefited from 10,938 hours of volunteer time in 2023 by 300 individuals, including 225 who were adults over the age of 60. The value of their time gleaning and working in the Food Pantry was valued at $446,161.
Ninety-seven of the 100 volunteers for Meals on Wheels are seniors. They ensure that Island homebound neighbors receive a hot meal and wellness check on a regular basis. In 2023, Misty Meadows Horse Farm, which offers an array of opportunities to get involved with both horses and riders, relied on 6,500 hours of physical labor from volunteers, and at least half of that labor came from retirees. Hospice is required to have a minimum of 5 percent of its direct-care staff be volunteers who provide companionship to patients or respite for caregivers. In 2024, of 18 volunteers, 17 were over the age of 60.
The desire to contribute to the community is one of the most repeated rationales for volunteering.
But volunteers also acknowledge that they receive some personal benefits, from offering to help, especially enjoying an opportunity to socialize with other Islanders. Volunteers at the M.V. Community Services thrift shop enjoy four get-togethers a year as part of the Chicken Alley Social Club. Some programs, like Biodiversity Works, offer an opportunity for those who “love wildlife,” are “interested in nature,” and enjoy a “chance to be outdoors.” Ilona Metell, a volunteer for Harbor Homes and the Red Cross, cited three reasons for volunteering. “It makes me happy,” she said. “I like to help others ,and I’ve accepted a life of service which is spiritual.”
In a Healthy Aging Survey completed in 2020, older adults on the Vineyard contributed the equivalent hours of more than 500 full-time employees. But this still does not adequately meet the volunteer needs of all local organizations, committees, and boards. Elder Services, the local Councils on Aging, and Vineyard Village at Home are continuously seeking more drivers, particularly in the summer months, when volunteers take vacations. The Center for Living, Clothes to Go, AARP Tax Assistance, and other nonprofits are recruiting help to be able to continue to offer their basic services. The Martha’s Vineyard Nonprofit Collaborative maintains a webpage of volunteer opportunities that reflects some of this unmet need; \ it includes solicitations for board positions, as well as opportunities to help out with animals, agriculture, art exhibitions, fundraisers, creative performances, or children’s activities.
As Kerry Alley, 87, a former guidance counselor, volunteer on the Island for the past 25 years, and co-chair of the Red Stocking Fund, which delivers toys to needy children at Christmastime, pointed out, “Some of us elves are getting old.”
Karen Tewhey has a Vineyard Vision Fellowship with Healthy Aging Martha’s Vineyard to look at volunteerism on Martha’s Vineyard.
