United Way of Southeast Louisiana is bringing together individuals who are retired or nearing retirement and wish to stay active in our community by forming a Retire United affinity group. Through these retirees’ experience and expertise, they will directly contribute to United Way’s mission of eradicating poverty in Southeast Louisiana. With 10,000 Baby Boomers becoming eligible for retirement every day in the US, United Way SELA recognizes the opportunity to keep these productive citizens engaged as a valuable community resource for the Personal Wellness and Vibrant Communities frameworks of our Blueprint for Prosperity. We recently held a Founders' Circle meeting on February 7th at the Heritage Grill in Metairie. The Founders' Circle is made up of 20 individuals who have been the leaders of their respective industries and are representative of the tremendous breadth of knowledge, talents, and expertise needed to make lasting change in Southeast Louisiana. 
Alexis Hocevar, the former Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise, member of the UWSELA Board of Trustees, and Tocqueville donor, was the first to address the group. Alexis noted that his “busy work” at home since retirement could only keep him satisfied for so long before needing to get back out to do work within the community. Statistics have proven that retirees will stay healthier by volunteering, both physically and through sheer satisfaction of their contribution. In addition to keeping retirees engaged in volunteer projects and community issues, United Way wants to make sure retirees are receiving the services they need and continued involvement with United Way will keep retirees informed about all available resources.
Cathy McRae, former VP at Shell and current Women United Chair, has strong apsirations for the newly-founded Retire United group. Cathy was heard to say, “I would love nothing more than to see Retire United grow into national recognition and acheivement as our Women United has done over the past 15 years.”
Retire United will bring together our community’s retired citizens for the purpose of adding capacity to create solutions to our region’s most pressing needs. By engaging retirees, we hope to retain our loyal donors, volunteers, and advocates, which will be critical as we fight for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in every community we serve.
Past and Upcoming Events
A huge thank you to those of you who volunteered at our annual “Got Gumbo” event—we hope you had a chance to sample some of the great gumbos!
...and a thank you to the Retire United volunteers who have been helping us close out our 2017-2018 giving campaign at the UWSELA office.
We had a fantastic event on March 10th at Grace at the Greenlight, providing a hot breakfast to homeless individuals.
March 28th: We’re hosting a volunteer opportunity for Retire United folks at Royal Castle Child Development Center, beautifying the property both inside and out. You can sign up here.
