Finding purpose through volunteering
Jeanne Jacobson’s job in high school, as a receptionist at Hastings Hospital, was more fortuitous than most first jobs. “The person who trained me was very excited to be heading off to nursing school,” Jacobson recalled recently. That excitement rubbed off, and Jacobson ended up with a nursing degree.
She held many leadership positions at the University of Minnesota before her career took her to Fairview Southdale and, later, to a corporate position at HealthEast. She finished her professional life as the director of graduate studies in nursing at St. Kate’s.
Jacobson was serving on many boards of directors at the time of her retirement, but turned to volunteering as a guardian ad litem, which she loved. “I met lots of wonderful families,” she said. But the volunteer program was converted to a more formal, budgeted one.
Accustomed to being super busy, Jacobson felt she “needed to find something more fulfilling. I needed a purpose.” She found the University of Minnesota Retirees Volunteer Center (URVC) website, and was attracted to volunteering with the Community Teachers for Health Professional Students program at the U.
Jacobson corralled her husband into helping at the Wellstone Center Food Market, part of the nonprofit Neighborhood House in St. Paul, working with immigrants and refugees. That led to Jacobson’s passion for working with ESL [English as a second language] students and the Tutoring in Your Community Program at Arlington Church, where she assists groups of students developing their language skills. In addition, she is working one-on-one with a student in the Reader/Writer Program at Franklin Middle School. Most recently, Jacobson started training with the International Institute of Minnesota to assist immigrants and refugees seeking U.S. citizenship.
“The number of possibilities URVC offers is wonderful!” Jacobson said. “You just figure out what works for you.”
To learn more about volunteer opportunities available through URVC, please call 612-625-8016 or visit urvc.umn.edu where you can register to receive information related to your areas of interest.
—Peggy Mann Rinehart
News
Beginning January 1, 2027, the University of Minnesota is making updates to medical plans, the pharmacy vendor, and the Wellbeing Program incentive that apply to retirees and dependents enrolled in these plans.
The University of Minnesota has had a presence at the Great Minnesota Get-Together for 167 years. And on September 3, 2026, UMRA made its Minnesota State Fair debut to talk with fairgoers (on Seniors Day) about retirement and to promote opportunities to volunteer through our University Retirees Volunteer Center.
Like all of us, UMRA member Barbara Heinemann has been reflecting on 9/11 and life in the 25 years since then, with mixed feelings.
December 31 is the application deadline for UMRA’s 2027 Professional Development Grants for Retirees competition. Retirees from all five University of Minnesota campuses are eligible to apply. We invited Brad Hokanson, professor emeritus, UMN Department of Design Innovation, to tell us about the work supported by his 2026 grant to promote teaching creativity in high schools.
Meet UMRA member and volunteer extraordinaire Kay Louis. She devoted her career as an Extension educator — “bringing the University to the people” — to developing and providing programming for adults and youth.
The UMRA membership year runs from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. If you haven’t yet renewed your membership for 2027, it’s definitely time to do so!
UMRA has a Facebook group that is open to UMN retirees and others with close ties to the University, for posting messages about anything University- or retiree-related. Learn more.
This will be a new regular column where you can find organizational tasks that need your help! We are currently looking for help researching a new UMRA Membership Database and URVC volunteer database, and a co-producer for UMRA's Zoom webinars. See more details: