Do you love having fun? Do you enjoy connecting with older adults? If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you!
The Southern Maine Agency on Aging is seeking Volunteer Activity Aides to help with our vibrant Adult Day Programming. Every day is an adventure filled with singing, games, arts and crafts, exercise, cooking, baking, and heartwarming conversations. Share your creativity, talents, and smile with older adults living with memory impairments!
Three Locations:
Our Biddeford Hub at the Sam L. Cohen Center
30 Barra Rd, Biddeford, ME 04005
&
our Springvale Hub at the Anderson Learning Center
Bodwell Court, Springvale, ME 04083
&our Portland Center
2320 Congress Street, Portland ME 04102
Flexible Volunteering:
Our Adult Day Programs are open weekdays, during business hours. Volunteers can create their own schedule to join us weekly or monthly for the full day or for two-hour shifts. We ask for a minimum 6-month commitment.
*Current needs include afternoon volunteers at our Sam L. Cohen Center in Biddeford: afternoons from 1-4pm on Mon/Tues/Thurs and Fri.
What does an Volunteer Activity Aide do?
-play cards
-sing or play an instrument
-lead arts & crafts or a cooking group
-help serve meals
- read or chat with members
-simply come and greet our members as they arrive, and chat with them as they move through the day.
We encourage volunteers to bring your interests and skills with our members! Currently, we have particular needs for volunteers to share their talents in: music, art, and exercise - as well as gardening, baking, and arts & crafts.
What qualities, experience & skills does a Volunteer Activity Aide need?
-patience, kindness, good sense of humor
-ability to work with people with some level of dementia
-love of people; the ability to see the value of all people
In the words of a SMAA Volunteer Activity Aide...come find meaning and joy with us!
Every Wednesday I volunteer at the Adult Day Program for older Mainers with varying degrees of dementia. It provides a home away from home environment chock full of wellness, hope… and friendship. What I got every Wednesday was the gift of witnessing life lived with courage and perseverance...I should be thanking SMAA for enhancing my life so greatly. The gifts of hearing how people have lived their lives and the endless magical moments I now experience on Wednesdays. Little did I know when I arrived here the gifts that would grow one right after the other. That my days inside the Adult Day Program would have me ballroom dancing to “MOON RIVER” at 11AM (!) or belting out a sing-a-long of Sweet Caroline...at the top of my lungs with the bravest people I’ve ever met?
...PLUS, PLUS…. the added inspiration the staff and volunteers would instill in me. The pure generosity the staff gives, strengthened by their teamwork to maintain each member’s dignity day after day, year after year...Every member feels seen.
Join us for fun & smiles!
Volunteers can begin right away after they attend a training and complete a background check. Contact us at volunteer@smaaa.org or 207-396-6595 to get started!
