Pinellas Opportunity Council, Inc./Retired & Senior Volunteer Program

The mission of Pinellas Opportunity Council, Inc. - the Community Action Agency (CAA) for Pinellas County, Florida - is to help alleviate conditions of poverty; promote self-sufficiency; and help revitalize local communities by mobilizing federal, state, local, and private resources to develop and implement programs that deliver a wide range of services to address a variety of individual, family, and community needs.

The purpose of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is to create meaningful opportunities for persons 55 years of age and above to participate more fully in the life of the community through volunteer service. The program matches the extensive and considerable knowledge, skills, and experience of this vital - and rapidly growing - age group with the addressing of identified critical needs and unresolved issues within the community.

Currently, RSVP of Pinellas County has nearly 1,100 active volunteers working in 110 different not-for-profit agencies and "People-Helping" organizations. Last year, these volunteers gave more than 222,000 hours in service, equating to more than $ 4.8 million in in-kind labor donations to the agencies in which they serve.