Lending a hand: Seniors who volunteer

Volunteers help to strengthen communities, but putting in time and effort to help out can also provide many benefits to the person who serves.

For adults aged 65 and older, volunteering is beneficial in helping to bridge generation gaps, lower the risk of dementia, prevent loneliness, increase physical activity and learn new skills.

“Time and time again we hear from our seniors that they get so much more than they give when they volunteer and how fulfilling that is. It gives them a sense of purpose,” said Paige Sumner, director of philanthropy at Dietert Center.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, volunteering helps to keep the brain active, lower the risk of dementia and depression, prevent social isolation, give an individual a new sense of purpose, increase physical activity and engage with old interests.

“We have a lot of seniors who live alone who aren’t homebound, and it helps them make connections and combat social isolation,” Sumner said.

Dietert Center, 451 Guadalupe St. in Kerrville, is a community center that offers social services, education and Meals-on-Wheels programs for seniors.

“We make sure people are all right. We keep checking on them every day, five days a week. We are more of a family. There’s more than 300 people, and it’s my family, because I don’t have a family here,” said Stuart Pippin, who drives for Meals on Wheels three to five days a week.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities, call 830-792-4044 or visit www.dietertcenter.org.

BETTY ARONSEN

Betty Aronsen has been volunteering at the Museum of Western Art since 1992. She turned 100 years old last summer, but that hasn’t stopped her from coming in for her four-hour shifts on Wednesday afternoons.

“I’m in admissions, which means I greet the people who come visit the museum,” Aronsen said. “I volunteer because I enjoy it. I have met some of the most wonderful people I know in Kerrville at the museum.”

In 1989, Aronsen and her late husband retired in Kerrville, where she discovered an abundance of volunteer opportunities, including at her church’s thrift and resale store, St. Peter Episcopal Church’s Cottage Shop, and as an Aquasize instructor.

“I really appreciate having the social connections and getting to know people,” she said. “The museum is nice, because we get to meet people from not only all over the United States, but all over the world.”

The Museum of Western Art calls their volunteer group the “Remuda.” Named after the group of horses that supports riders during a cattle drive, the Remuda volunteers work to support the museum. There are many volunteer opportunities available, including greeting, visitor tours, library management and other special projects.

The Museum of Western Art is at 1550 Bandera Highway in Kerrville. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, visit www.museumofwesternart.com or call 830-896-2553.

KATY KAPPEL

Katy Kappel is a retired social worker originally from California. She moved to Texas in 1972. At 80, her volunteerism is led by her love of nature and the outdoors.

“I started volunteering with the Riverside Nature Center in 2016 pretty quickly after I moved to Kerrville,” Kappel said. “Before I worked at the nature center, I didn’t know anything about worms, and now I’m an expert.”

At Riverside Nature Center, she has helped design and construct exhibits, guided hikes and assisted in educational Nature Day events for elementary school students.

The Riverside Nature Center is at 150 Francisco Lemos St. Volunteer opportunities are almost unlimited and include planting and maintaining wildflower beds, planning and developing educational programs, assisting small groups on school field trips, providing educational programs for adults and children, gardening and maintenance of the grounds, photography, identifying plants and wildlife and computer work. Training for all activities is provided. To learn more visit https://riversidenaturecenter.org or call 830-257-4837.

Kappel completed the 2017 class of Hill Country Master Naturalists and is involved in many other volunteer activities in Kerr County. In 2019, she was recognized for her 500 hours of volunteer service to the community by the Hill Country Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist Program.

The mission of the Texas Master Naturalists is to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for the state of Texas.

Chapter members each contribute 40 hours of volunteer service annually to retain certification in the program. To learn more about the Hill Country Master Naturalists, visit www.txmn.org/hillcountry.

“The social connection in volunteering is a big one, because you meet the nicest people,” Kappel said. “I mean, they’re willing to do things for others and not because they’re interested in money. The other thing is that I just think the Kerrville area is so beautiful, and I want to do whatever I can to preserve it and improve it.”

Each summer, Kappel and her husband, Carl, take their kayaks on the Guadalupe River to sample water for the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. Created in 1939 by Texas Legislatures, the nonprofit organization works to protect the health of the Guadalupe River watershed in Kerr County by managing water quality and quantity, promoting stewardship and providing services to support the community. To learn more, visit www.ugra.org.

She is also a spokesperson for the local Bird City Coalition. Kerrville was certified by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Audubon Texas as a Bird City in January, which encourages and recognizes cities that share community practices and local initiatives to protect birds and the places they live.

The Bird City Coalition is a group of volunteers with no officers who share a love of birds and environmental protection. Kerrville is on a list of only 10 other Texas communities as a certified Bird City, including Austin, Bastrop, Cedar Hill, Dallas, Dripping Springs, Galveston, Houston, Port Aransas, San Antonio and Surfside Beach. To learn more, email birdcitykerrville@gmail.com.

“There’s just so many things to do here. I think if you’re an older person and you’re retired, it’s a chance to do a lot of things you never tried before. It’s a good time to do it,” Kappel said of the reasons she seeks out so many opportunities to volunteer.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

In 2024, research was done by a grassroots group over a three-month period to determine the number of volunteers and organizations based in Kerrville. Reports by 154 nonprofits provided figures totaling 5,456 volunteers, in addition to 685 people who serve on volunteer boards. This translates to 31% of residents over the age of 18 who do some sort of volunteering, which bests the national average of 27%.

There are numerous volunteer opportunities for senior citizens in the Hill Country, including in fields of education, medicine, social services, animal-related services, veterans affairs, food banks, transportation, the arts and more.

For a list of more opportunities to volunteer, download the City of Kerrville’s Senior Services Resource Guide online at https://kerrvilletx.gov/Kerrville-Senior-Services-Resource-Guide. The Senior Services Advisory Committee is a committee of the city of Kerrville appointed by the Kerrville City Council. The committee’s first community service project was to create a Senior Services Resource Guide designed to be a one-stop resource for senior citizens in Kerrville.

This article was originally published in the March 2025 edition of Hill Country Senior Living.