Senior Alums

• Engage senior alumni and friends in meaningful community service through club sponsored and class sponsored activities.
• Enhance opportunities for senior alumni and friends to reunite with long lost colleagues.
• Promote senior volunteer service that creates an awareness of the primary role our Christian faith plays in our lives.
• Provide avenues for senior alumni and friends to effect positive change within their communities.
• Enable senior alumni and friends to utilize their talents, skills and education to enhance the lives of others.

• Encourage senior alumni and friends to engage in the six (C’s) of Alumni Association program development: 
           -Camaraderie
           -Community Service
           -Continuing Education
           -Catholic/Christian spirituality
           -Current student support
           -Communication

• Respond to the growing population of senior alumni and friends to assure adequate representation within the Alumni Association and active participation in future alumni programming.
• Continue to develop programs that remain responsive to the changing needs of the senior population.

In addition, numerous clubs have begun activities, projects and programs which have appealed to senior alumni. Some examples:

         -Regular breakfast meetings
         -Providing architectural services to a local library
         -Mentoring grade school and high school students
         -Regularly working at food banks
         -Preparing meals for the homeless and underprivileged
         -International group travel
         -Providing consulting services to the Archdiocese
         -Providing a life skills course for recovering addicts

Initiatives/Programs
The NDSA Board of Directors has developed details plans and guidelines for suggested programs for clubs and/or classes

Tax Assistance Program (TAP)  (Minnesota Club Tap Link)
Through the Tax Assistance Program, each tax season, Notre Dame Alumni prepare returns for eligible families across the country. This program insures the receipt of the earned tax credit and other tax credits for those who might not otherwise realize the benefit. The TAP handbook can be found at http://alumni.nd.edu/commserv/tapnd.html . Other information about NDSA involvement in this program is available at http://ndsenioralumni.org/tap.html.

Prostate Cancer Awareness Education (PACE)
NDSA is assisting the Notre Dame Alumni Association in the fight against Prostate Cancer through a program called PACE (Prostate Awareness Cancer Education).  The key focus for Notre Dame Clubs and Classes is to promote informational awareness of the risks and the importance of early detection of the disease. Clubs can provide necessary prostate cancer education as well as education on other cancers to their communities through organized seminars and partnering with local hospitals. An important link for complete information on ways your Club and Class can participate in this vital program is http://ndsenioralumni.org/pace.html .

Corporate Volunteer Program
The NDSA Corporate Volunteer Program is offered to assist Notre Dame Clubs in increasing their ability to support community service programs.  These corporate volunteer programs will reward their employees and sometimes retirees who volunteer their time with non-profit agencies with cash or products for the non-profit agencies.  Three corporations with such a program are State Farm Insurance, Wachovia Bank, and IBM.  For information about the State Farm program go to www.statefarm.com/foundati/foundati.htm . For the Wachovia Foundation go to www.wachovia.com and click on “Community Involvement” and “Wachovia in our Community.”  The NDSA website www.ndsenioralumni.org  contains a Guide for Implementation of this program under the link Initiatives.

Student Career Mentoring Program
The major objective of the NDSA Student Career Mentoring Program is to provide assistance to Notre Dame students in selecting careers, developing career goals, and making the difficult transition from college to the workplace. Students are matched with alumni mentors from their local Notre Dame Club on a career basis. They develop a personal relationship which involves setting and attaining mutual goals during the course of the program which lasts at least one school year. Frequent communication is maintained through personal guidance on career options, goals and opportunities, provide encouragement during the academic process, advise on developing career-related skills and confidence, and share his/her experiences in the work place. A guideline for implementation of the Student Career can be found on the Senior Alumni Website http://ndsenioralumni.org/mentoring.html 

Hospital Ministry Program  (Minnesota Hospital Support Program Link)
The primary purpose of the Hospital Support Program is to provide assistance to members of the Notre Dame family during their stays in hospitals away from home.  The program is made up of four parts:
1.  Emergency Care provides assistance to individuals who are hospitalized while traveling through a club’s area.  Club volunteers go to wherever the patient is located and provide assistance until a loved one arrives.  Usually this support is brief and is a good activity for all clubs.
2.  Care supports caregivers and patients who come to a hospital in a club’s area from a distant location for surgery or other procedures that have been planned in advance. Club volunteers can help by sitting with patients, providing the family with information on restaurants, lodging and contacting Lay Ministers and Priests. This part of the program is only suited for clubs with medical facilities in their areas to which patients come for specialized surgery or treatments.
3.  Long Term Care provides support to patients who come to local hospitals, Assisted Living Facilities, Nursing Homes and other personal service organizations. Support primarily consists of periodic visits on a regular basis and/or helping the organization in specific tasks.
4.  Additional Care supports individuals when they are in a local hospital and can also expand to assisting the hospital and staff in a variety of ways.

The Hospital Support Program will provide a true Notre Dame National Assistance Program.  For additional information go to the NDSA website and click on http://ndsenioralumni.org/hospital.html  

Diocesan Professional Assistance Program
The major objective of the Diocesan Professional Assistance Program recently organized by NDSA is to provide professional guidance and expertise by your Notre Dame Club primarily to the local Catholic Diocese. An additional benefit of this initiative is its transferability to other club non-profit organizations.  Professional assistance could  be in the form of strategic planning, legal, tax, accounting, etc. These projects will usually consist of a one-time concentrated effort over a couple of weeks or months. This program will be of special interest to those who prefer to volunteer their professional assistance rather than hands-on assistance such as soup kitchens, food distribution, etc. The potential projects are limited only by the skill sets available from the pool of volunteers. The Initiative link in the NDSA website http://ndsenioralumni.org/Diocese.html  will direct you to complete information on initiating this initiative.

God, Country, Notre Dame
In support of the Alumni Association’s God, Country, Notre Dame Initiative, NDSA sponsors the VA and Military Hospital Assistance Program.  Through this program alumni volunteers have the opportunity to provide regular visitation, transportation, administrative, professional, and/or other assistance to at least one of the 1,000+ facilities in the U.S.  A list of VA centers, Volunteer guidelines and opportunities, contacts and other information can be found at www.va.gov/volunteer .  The list of Army and Air Force Hospitals is available at www.theagapecenter.com/hospital/military.htm .  Almost all of the VA and Military Hospital facilities actively seek volunteers and make it simple and easy for Clubs to begin an assistance program. NDSA Link http://ndsenioralumni.org/GCND.html

Contacts
If you have any questions, please contact John McShane (’68) at goldendomers@ndmn.org or for the NDSA contact: 
            Notre Dame Alumni Association   
            100 Eck Visitors Center
            Notre Dame, IN 46556
            (574) 631-2724
            ndalumni@nd.edu