Part-Time, Volunteer, or other opportunities?

Peach

Peach

Stillwater Fanatic
This topic has been discussed periodically on these forums but I wanted to ask the question again. After 30+ years, I took an early retirement package from Intel when they did their first round of layoffs in Sept. of 2024. The package was too good to pass up, but it did thrust me into retirement a few years earlier than what I was planning. I retired at the age of 54.

I have enjoyed the past 15 months of my newly acquired free time, fishing a tom more, traveling, working around the house, and keeping busy. But the last few months I am starting to discover that I have more idol time on my hands and I am not as busy as I once was. I don't tie my own flies and I am considering learning that skill to help occupy some of that idol time. But my primary question is there any suggestions in terms of fun part-time jobs or volunteer opportunities (fishing and non-fishing), clubs, or groups that this community would recommend me looking into? Besides fishing, I do enjoy general outdoor activities when the weather is nice, not so much when the weather is cold in the winter.

BTW - I do live in the Portland area. If anyone has any recommendations or know of any opportunities, please share :).

Peach
 
I was in the same dilemma when I retired early. I tried different things. I ended up volunteering to help the less fortunate, especially kids. I was Santa at a children's hospital for several years. I left with tears in my eyes everytime.

Not knowing what you did for work, maybe volunteer as a teacher and help the young ones that are less fortunate.

My advice, try out different things and choose what you enjoy and want to payback. Volunteering is not a job but rather making you look forward to the next day knowing you are helping others even more.

Your smile creating bigger smiles is so rewarding...
 
If you want it to be fishing related check out Native Fish Society. They are mostly a volunteer organization and are pretty cool about letting people help their river sheds in ways they want to. Not a major commitment so a good place to start.
 
I plan to retire in June. I've been visiting with the folks at Blue Mountain Land Trust about getting involved. Could use my survey/gis experience or just cut trails. Kinda like the work I enjoyed so much.
Some folks in the bike community asked me to get involved but I burned out being president from 97-08. Kinda get into those things and no one else steps up to take over. Not to keen to get in that position again.
Whatever I do grandkids are most important, seems there is always an activity to go to, so I don't want to commit to too much.
 
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I retired in February of this year and was looking for something to do fisheries related. I applied and interviewed for a WDFW advisory group and was selected to be a member of the group.
It has been interesting seeing how some of the process works in setting our Puget Sound salmon fishing seasons.
ODFW might have similar volunteer opportunities.
SF
 
Being in the Portland area you would have multiple opportunities to mentor high school students at the first year level due to all of the mental, emotional, and physical changes the students will encounter. Conversely, graduating students heading out into today’s world could use access to all of your experience heading out to the great beyond.
About twenty years before I retired I joined a national program that dealt with school age kids. I stayed involved until work travel said slow down or collapse. I’ll be honest, I probably received as much from it as the kids did. It helped me prioritize work life balance and also retirement, fifteen years later.
I’m about to jump in again after the new year. I believe it will help get over the current doldrums.
Good luck whatever you do, as just reaching out to ask in the forum is a great first step!
 
If you're interested in doing something in the area of natural resource management, maybe look into some of the watershed councils around the Portland area. On the coast near Lincoln City, we have the MidCoast and the Nestucca, Neskowin and Sand Lake Watershed Councils. Watershed councils tend to utilize volunteers a lot - particularly when it comes to habitat work.
 
A few years ago, I suffered a devastating injury on the job. I was on Workers Comp for nearly two years while I recovered. Toward the end of my recovery when I could actually get out of the house and was somewhat mobile, I volunteered at the local animal shelter a few days a week. This entailed everything from excercising dogs to hanging out with the cats to hosing down kennels. I loved every minute of it.
 
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Closer to home, think about volunteering for your community. I live in a small (12,000) town and walked in to see the mayor. Turns out in communities like this it is common to have a LOT of the work done by the community. Here it is around 50%. I have been a civil service commissioner, board member for the cemetery and arts commission. There are roles in parks, library and lots of others. Your business experience is valuable and service is appreciated. Go knock on a door.
 
I found Trout in the Classroom to be very rewarding personally and the kids enjoy it. My flyfishing club has over a dozen schools with aquariums that we provided. We procure the eggs from hatcheries when fertilized and distribute to classrooms, when hatched we coordinate release in local streams and stillwaters, often with a day learning tailored to age/grade. The teachers love it. We are adjacent to or close by Sequoia/Kings Canyon NPs and many releases are on edge of them. In Washington it’s called Salmon in the Classroom and the School Cooperative Program.
 
If the money is not important to you then you could be a part time guide.
 
I really think the community approach is better than the fishing-specific groups. I'm not going to name names or point fingers, but in general; myself and my peers have not had good experiences with fishing conservation groups, or those posing as fishing conservation groups. The reasons are varied, but find something in your community where it be the classroom/after school approach, finding river cleanup opportunities, etc. I think you'll find your time much better spent that way.
 
Robert Engleheart said:
I found Trout in the Classroom to be very rewarding personally and the kids enjoy it. My flyfishing club has over a dozen schools with aquariums that we provided. We procure the eggs from hatcheries when fertilized and distribute to classrooms, when hatched we coordinate release in local streams and stillwaters, often with a day learning tailored to age/grade. The teachers love it. We are adjacent to or close by Sequoia/Kings Canyon NPs and many releases are on edge of them. In Washington it’s called Salmon in the Classroom and the School Cooperative Program.
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My good friend teaches 2nd grade in Clark County. He's doing the Salmon in the Classroom program in his room this year. He was just telling me about it last night. Sounds really cool. I'm sure the kids get a kick out of it.
 
Evan B said:
I really think the community approach is better than the fishing-specific groups. I'm not going to name names or point fingers, but in general; myself and my peers have not had good experiences with fishing conservation groups, or those posing as fishing conservation groups. The reasons are varied, but find something in your community where it be the classroom/after school approach, finding river cleanup opportunities, etc. I think you'll find your time much better spent that way.
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Interesting. Without naming names or any other giveaways - what sorts of things created this impression?
 
JayB said:
Interesting. Without naming names or any other giveaways - what sorts of things created this impression?
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For the sake of keeping the peace, that's as much info as I'll divulge. I have strong feelings about some groups and more "neutral" on others, but I didn't find any to be where I wanted to put what little time I had for volunteering (when I had such a thing). I pivoted at the time to a local non-fishing community group that did river cleanups on the Sandy River and tribs, so put a lot of time in with them when I could and felt I was using my time more effectively.
 
If these pique your interest, check out local food banks, the local schools, libraries, and consider joining Rotary.

Food banks often need help stocking their shelves, assisting 'shoppers' or preparing food packages. (It's a bloody shame that our society condones food insecurity!)

High schools typically welcome volunteers to help in a variety of ways, from assisting kids research colleges and apply, to shop classes, to one on one mentoring or tutoring. They require a background check (quick and painless) and then you're good to go. If you prefer to work with younger kids, there are lots of ways to fit in, from simply reading to kids (at middle schools or libraries) to helping teach ESL.

If you don't know about Rotary, they are a service organization and operate both locally and globally.

There are lots of opportunities to be helpful and support your community. I suspect that if you were to poll them, most volunteers would say that they get the better pa of the deal! I find it very satisfying and a god use of my free time.

You might also consider reading to sight-impaired adults.

Luck!
 
Peach, maybe there’s a “volunteer centre” in your area. The one in my town always has pages and pages of a huge variety of volunteer opportunities on their website. When I had to stop working, I checked mine, didn’t see anything fishing related, but chose my local Red Cross branch. They needed people to help their (few) paid workers delivering health equipment to people in their homes, on their free loan program. Items ranged from canes, to raised toilet seats, to wheelchairs, to hospital beds. Essential equipment, for people just out of hospital, or very ill, or terminal.

They could have used someone younger, stronger, and healthier, but I managed a half-day a week for seven years. Almost all patients expressed thanks, which was something new to me from my decades of “regular paid work”.

In case this sort of service thing interests you, I’ll just add that benefits went both ways. My own health improved, physically and mentally. In particular, my sense of gratitude and usefulness increased, which is quite a welcome contrast to my earlier life.
 
Thank you all for a lot of good recommendation and suggestions. I hope others find this topic/discussion useful as I am sure there are a few other folks close to my demographic (or any demographic) that can pick up a tip or two and learn along with me.

As someone pointed out earlier, I didn’t mention what my job or expertise was at Intel and I can see how that can be relevant. I was primarily a Supply Chain Planning manager (think operations & supply chain activities) which involved a lot of data analysis, inventory management, strategic forecasting, process improvement, and stakeholder engagement. I did manage an international planning team and I really enjoyed the leadership role I was in and really focused on team development, employee development and advancement along with a lot of recruitment activity, always trying to make life easier for my team 😊.

In my post-retirement life, I am looking for new opportunities which I can learn from and at the same time be able to help my local community, meet people and try to make this world a better place. If my professional skills are needed and it helps out an organization, then of course I will consider it.

Again, under the umbrella of others viewing this thread and have similar concerns, I can provide an update since my original post.
  • Just looking for a part-time job or the right volunteer opportunity is actually a job in itself. I have spent many hours researching and exploring and it has really helped consume that idol time that I had on my hands. It feels good being busy again 😊.

  • I secured my first volunteer opportunity the other day. I will be volunteering for Providence Health at St. Vincent hospital. Since this is really my first volunteer opportunity, I felt this was a good one to ease into and get introduced into the health care industry and into volunteerism. It is a 6-month commitment for 2 4 hour shifts per week. Let’s see how this goes.

  • I also signed up as a volunteer for the Red-Cross. Waiting for my interview with them to help identify the best opportunities for me. Hopefully this will consume another 6-8 hours per week. I am also in contact with OBP and there are some potential opportunities as well with them.

  • As we approach Spring and summer, I have checked out organization like Native Fish Society, TU, ODFW, Oregon State Parks, Volunteer.gov any organization that gets me outside and active – in warm weather 😊. Can’t wait to get out there.

  • My research has discovered a local philanthropy group here in Portland called Social Venture Partners or SVP that has raised my curiosity. I will be doing a little more investigating but if anyone has worked with this organization and are willing to share information, please reach out to me.

  • For increased activities around home – I have started reading for entertainment again, was always too busy when I was working. Finished a couple of books and bought my first Kindle. I am open to any suggestion on good books to read. After about a 15 year absence I am watching the NFL again and next year may join a survivor league or fantasy football. Discovered Facebook Marketplace and been selling a bunch of items around the house. Started watching my nephews basketball games through NWHS broadcast, even though he lives/plays in Eastern Oregon.

  • Finally looking to increase my activity here on this site. I have been more of a lurker than a contributor, may need to change that and interact more with a great community. If the Evan, Josh, or Billy needs more help, maybe some assistance there as well 😊.
Peach
 
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Volunteer with SCORE

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One of my customers did this after retirement, another way to give back. He enjoyed it a lot, said it was very satisfying for him.
 
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