Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP) in San Diego is calling for more volunteers age 50 and retired amid a large area to patrol – Point Loma, Ocean Beach, Linda Vista, Hillcrest, North Park and Mission Hills. RSVP works with the San Diego Police Department and is a nonconfrontational group that doesn’t carry weapons. “If we have any problems, we contact SDPD, and they will help,” volunteer Mike Hughes says.
Uniformed volunteers enforce regulations on handicapped parking, conduct vacation home security checks, perform traffic control, patrol accident scenes, business districts, parking lots and school zones and provide homeland security support. They also answer Balboa Park tourists’ questions as ambassadors of San Diego. The YANA project (You Are Not Alone) is also part of RSVP: Volunteers visit seniors in San Diego. If they are requested to do so, they’ll visit three times a week to check that everything is OK and that the caregivers have done their job. Applicants for RSVP must be U.S. citizens, have valid California driver’s licenses and have the physical ability to perform patrol duties. Volunteers have to participate in at least three patrols a month and attend a meeting once a month. The patrols last five to six hours. Volunteers are asked to commit for one year.
RSVP, half of whose volunteers are women, was established in the mid-1990s. Hughes has been a volunteer for 14 years and says it has been fulfilling. Info:
Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol seeks for more volunteers
If you want to apply to be part of RSVP, you have to be over age 50 and retired
A one-year commitment that includes at least three six-hour work shifts per month,
Attendance at a monthly training meeting usually the first Tuesday of the month.
Participation in a week long training academy in San Diego
More info: Mike Hughes, email: m.mhughes@cox.net, phone: (619) 692-4945.