50+ Lifestyles

RSVP: Lead With Experience

Joyce Erickson, A High Energy Volunteer

By Bill Sedlacek
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Eastern Iowa and Western Illnois

If she had not cheerfully confessed to it, I would not have guessed that Joyce Erickson, was “of retirement age.” Joyce, a former operating room nurse who branched out into teaching 10 years ago, taught kindergarteners during the 2015-2016 school year at the East Moline Christian School. This coming year she intends to teach part-time to allow more time for her favorite activity, helping others through the RSVP program.

When I asked Joyce how she became involved with RSVP, she said she drove her mother Gloria Ferguson to her RSVP volunteer assignments when she could no longer drive. While there with her mother, “High Energy” Joyce pitched in and also began volunteering. As she says, RSVP does not pressure you, but lets you select from the weekly volunteer opportunity list. If nothing interests you that week, there is always next week. The last activity that caught her eye was the Mississippi Valley Boys and Girls Club “Get Hooked on Fishing” event at the Rock Island Conservation Club. The event had 600 individual sponsors who paid an entry fee of $25 for a chance to win an SUV donated by Zimmerman Honda. In all the event raised $15,000 for the club. Joyce mentored two girls who had never fished. She must have been a good mentor, as one of her girls caught a tagged catfish and was able to choose a manicure set as a prize. The catfish was a prize too – large enough to yield 11 ounces of filleted meat.

This summer Joyce was also involved in the preparation of vegetables from the 14 community gardens of Broadway Presbyterian Church that is donated to the Davenport Café on Vine. The Community Garden Project, managed by Deacon Brian McMaster, relies on volunteers from our community and weekly visits by senior mission groups from all over the United States who plant, weed, and harvest the gardens. Joyce’s job was to blanch, vacuum seal and freeze 30 to 60 pounds of vegetables at a time. Need I mention again her “High Energy”?

Joyce has also been a volunteer at the Children’s Literature Festival where authors of children’s books interact with young readers. Joyce is also a member of the Moline Active Senior Center, the Moline Horticultural Society, The Rock Island Conservation Club, the YMCA, the 1st Congregational Church in Moline, and has been with the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild since 1984. She jokes that she is also a member of the “Do-It-Yourself Club” when it comes to maintaining her spacious house with its large yard and garden.

A regret Joyce has is that she cannot see her son Michael and his wife, her five grandchildren and her great-grandchild as often as she would like since Michael moved to Seattle, Washington for a better job opportunity. Our RSVP had better keep quiet about Joyce and how much she does to help others in our little bend of the river or the Seattle RSVP chapter might just recruit her and pay for her move out there.

The Children’s Literature Festival will be held, Tuesday, October 18th. If you’re interested in volunteering with this—or in other activities—contact RSVP (309) 793-4425.