Retirement just doesn't suite Manchester resident Mary Rorke. After her first retirement in 1999 from Mercy Medical Center, she went back to work at the College of Notre Dame until 2008. She found sitting around her home intolerable.

"I said, well I am going to retire this time; I got tired of the commute to Baltimore. Then when I retired, I still didn't like it," Rorke said. "I could not sit in the chair and watch TV; can't do it."

Rorke learned of the Senior Community Service Employment Program, a federally funded program administered in Carroll County through the nonprofit Family and Children's Network that aims to help seniors returning to the workforce gain skills and experience for their resumes. Though the program usually looks to place a senior with a different nonprofit or government agency, in 2009, the Family and Children's Network actually had an opening for Rorke at its West End Place Adult Day Care and Apartments in Westminster.

"I went in and had an interview, and went back to work. And I've been working two to three days a week ever since," she said.

The federal Senior Community Service Employment Program has existed since 1965, but Family and Children's Services has had the contract in Carroll for just four years, according to Tracey Ridgell, coordinator of elder services for the nonprofit. She said the organization is in the middle of a big push to find more agencies willing to take on seniors like Rorke who would like to return to work.

"We are aggressively going after it because we have found [senior employment] is a big need in our community with baby boomers reaching an all-time high," Ridgell said. "Many seniors can't survive on just Social Security anymore."

The way the program works, Ridgell said, is that a nonprofit or government agency agrees to take a senior on as a part-time employee guaranteeing them at least 20 hours per week for a one-year period and teaching them marketable occupational skills. Federal funding through the program, meanwhile, pays the senior's wage of $8.25 per hour.

"It's a win-win for both: The senior gets the skills and experience, and the agency is basically [getting] a 20-hour employee that they are not paying for," Ridgell said.

The Motor Vehicle Administration branch in Westminster has employed seniors through the Senior Community Service Employment Program in the past and is considering doing so again, according to branch manager Jannice High. Those seniors can gain customer-service experience to add to their resume, she said, and by acting as greeters and a first line of customer service in the branch, help improve customer experiences.

"That's a need for us and that's because we are busy all the time, especially summer months and at the end or beginning of the month, we don't have the ability to take an agent off the counter," High said. "It's also helpful for the community coming in because there is a contact person that's there as soon as they get in the door to greet them, to give them the proper instructions on what it is they need to do."

There is currently enough funding for 15 seniors to find work through the program, according to Ridgell, and three have already signed up. Now, she said, it is just a matter of finding enough agencies to work with seniors, and connecting with those individuals who could use some extra funds in their golden years, need something to stay busy, or in the case of Rorke, both.

"It makes it so my budget is not so tight, because I make enough to pay my insurance premiums so I have good insurance to keep my health up," Rorke said. "It keeps my life in perspective -- I will be 80 in February."

jon.kelvey@carrollcountytimes.com

410-857-3317

twitter.com/CCT_Health

More information:

For more information on the Senior Community Service Employment Program through the Family and Children's Network or to sign up as a senior looking for work or as a potential employer, call 410-848-2433 and ask for Tracey.

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