Robert Posey might just be one of the friendliest, warmest people you will ever meet — which explains why he’s been seeing the same core group of seniors at the Western Addition Senior Center since he first started tutoring there almost two years ago!
Robert tutors two days per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), and he taught an e-health literacy workshop at the center last April. While he enjoyed teaching the workshop, he says he prefers tutoring because the topics are more varied. And varied they are! Robert has helped seniors with a wide range of things, like using social media, writing blog posts, finding their credit reports, using Skype, writing their resumes, looking for jobs, learning PowerPoint and Microsoft Word, using the Internet for research, and resetting passwords, just to name a few.
Robert, who is currently taking business classes at University of Phoenix, has even helped some entrepreneurs with their business ideas. One senior wanted to teach piano lessons, so Robert helped him create a flyer. Another wanted to start a business providing day trips for seniors, so Robert helped him come up with a business plan.
“There are so many activities here at the Western Addition Senior Center, so I have different conversations every day,” he says. “It’s not just computer-related. I help with finding all kinds of information. There’s a core group here, so I’ve gotten to know them and I can check in and see how things go. I can say, ‘Try this and I’ll check in Thursday to see how it went.’ I tell them not to get depressed or stressed out because there’s always a solution. I don’t have all the answers, but together we can come up with a solution.”
Before volunteering with CTN, Robert did in-home health care, which he said was challenging because he saw people go through stages. “I wanted to help seniors before they got to that point,” he said. “I wanted to help them keep in touch with their friends and family.” Robert’s mother, who passed away in 2006, was always eager to learn new things. He says that’s part of the reason he loves working with seniors, and that when tutoring at WASC, he thinks of her.
“I believe everybody has a duty to be socially responsible and give back to their community,” he says. “The Western Addition Senior Center has a diverse population, and I’m getting as much from them as they’re getting from me. It keeps me grounded, it gives me patience, and I like the social interaction. I like to think I’m giving back to my community.”
