A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Life after retirement can be isolating for a lot of people, particularly older men. But it turns out that making a difference to someone else's life can give older guys a big boost. Here's Ashley Milne-Tyte.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: When Jim Isenberg of White Plains, New York, first became a grandfather, he wanted to meet other men at the same stage of life and do things together. So he went online.
JIM ISENBERG: Trying to find any kind of organization with grandpas. There were a lot of things with grandmas, which we always say, God love grandmas.
MILNE-TYTE: But nothing for grandfathers. Ultimately, Jim and his friend Frank Williams founded their own group. They called it Grandpas United. Jim and Frank wanted to bring retired men together socially and give them a continued sense of purpose. Here's Frank.
FRANK WILLIAMS: A lot of guys don't play golf. What do you do? You can give back. You can serve.
MILNE-TYTE: Frank Works as head of the White Plains Youth Bureau, and he saw a particular need.
WILLIAMS: So many children are growing up without a male figure or a father, and then here we have men who are retiring from work and careers.
MILNE-TYTE: So he and Jim started popping up at local farmers markets and recruiting older men to join them as mentors. Grandpas United works with boys and young men.
(CROSSTALK)
MILNE-TYTE: Today, several grandpas gather at a White Plains elementary school. They hang out with fourth grade boys here every couple of weeks.
JOHN STEWARD: All right. Are we ready you play chess here?
MILNE-TYTE: John Steward, a former IT guy, is playing with David, who's 9. We're not using David's full name because of his age. John explains the roles of bishop, knight and queen.
STEWARD: She can do anything except for the knight's move.
DAVID: So you can, like, protect her?
STEWARD: Yes.
DAVID: OK.
MILNE-TYTE: Programs like this have real benefits, says Dr. Linda Fried. Today, she's dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. A few decades ago, she was a practicing geriatrician and noticed a recurring pattern.
LINDA FRIED: They started having patient after patient for whom the reasons they were truly sick were that they had no reason to get up in the morning.
MILNE-TYTE: They felt they had no value in society. That galvanized her to start Experience Corps. A study on the outcomes showed striking results.
FRIED: Men who were volunteers demonstrated over a two-year period an astounding increase in the size of their brain.
MILNE-TYTE: In the regions associated with problem solving and memory. Why? Fried says it may be that because older men socialize less than women to begin with, the consistent volunteer work and seeing they were making a difference did them the most good.
Sociology professor Dawn Carr of Florida State University says knowing their community has needs they could fill could appeal to a lot of older men.
DAWN CARR: Who otherwise might feel more comfortable in the safety of their house watching television throughout the day alone, which is actually the activity that older men engage in more than anything else.
MILNE-TYTE: And Carr says there's another upside to volunteering.
CARR: You're able to do something where you feel like you have meaning and purpose, but you're doing it alongside other people who have a similar shared purpose.
MILNE-TYTE: Grandpas United member Marc Sharff knows this firsthand.
MARC SHARFF: One of the things that I love about Grandpas is not only with the kids. It's the camaraderie in building new friendships, and I cherish that.
MILNE-TYTE: He feels great satisfaction helping boys and young men, while staying connected with older ones.
For NPR News, I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte.
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