As an alternative to the more typical retirement, have you considered joining an intentional community? Are you open to volunteering your time and talents — say, for six months… or perhaps for several years — to serve the less fortunate among us? The deeply meaningful life within an intentional community — where you begin each day sure in the knowledge that those around you await with eagerness your wisdom and caring — is in stark contrast to the feelings of loneliness and isolation, the sense of being unneeded, that many experience in retirement.

My own first experience of intentional community came at Gould Farm in western Massachusetts, America’s oldest intentional community focused on the care of individuals with emotional or mental illness. My mentor there, Al King, a master woodworker, was an extraordinary elder. He’d begun his sojourn at Gould Farm 21 years earlier, at the youthful age of 70. One day he shared the secret of longevity: “Virgil, when I wake up each morning I think to myself, ‘There are people here who need me.’ And that’s enough to get me out of bed and off to the woodworking shop.” The work for Al didn’t end until he was 95, the year before he died.

The experience at Gould Farm gave my life its particular trajectory. I met my wife Lis there; it was there our four children were born and spent their childhoods. We left Gould Farm after 14 years, anxious to plant the idea in other places: in Richmond VA, where we started Gateway, and in Holly MI, where we started Rose Hill. Then, in 2003, we responded to a call from Don and Lisbeth Cooper to help with the establishment of CooperRiis in beautiful western North Carolina. All of these nonprofit organizations share the same mission of improving the lives of individuals with mental illness — the “residents” in these communities.

CooperRiis, like Gould Farm, is becoming a magnet for elders — “Second Sojourners” who work as volunteer staff and live within our therapeutic community. Consider “Uncle Dave Webster,” a 76-year-old retired minister from Virginia, who became our chaplain and soulful supporter. Or Californian Dorothy Haner, who taps her experience as a social worker to offer daily wisdom, support and care for our residents and wise counsel to our younger staff. Or Carolyn and Eddie Graham, a retired couple from West Virginia, who have signed on as volunteer support staff for a 6-months stint.

In writing this my hope is to encourage you to consider a life of ongoing achievement during your “retirement” years. The world needs you.

We also need you at CooperRiis. This is an invitation for you to join us as a volunteer in our intentional community. Come for six months… or a year… or, who knows, the rest of your life. You would be provided with room and board and a modest stipend in exchange for your sharing and work with us. You need not be a mental health professional; what you do need, however, is enthusiasm for life, a desire to share and the ability to lift the spirits of those around you. Please call, email or write me at CooperRiis. If a spot is not available for you here, I may also be able to refer you to similar organizations that have space.

Virgil Stucker, Executive Director, CooperRiis, 101 Healing Farm Lane, Mill Spring, NC 28756
    Phone: (828) 894-7110  ~  Email: Virgil@CooperRiis.org  ~  Website: www.cooperriis.org