About 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day. Many of them decide not to retire and some continue to work well into their 80s.
Meet Carol Mancuso, a Buffalo native and a former warehouse distribution manager for Laub International. Today, she works full-time for Supportive Service Corporation of Erie County.
Mancuso is 80 and a great grandmother of eight children. The U.S. Department of Labor reports older Americans are pushing back the clock and within the next decade. Americans over 65 will soon make up the nation’s largest group in the labor force.
“No, I do not have to work, I choose to. I have to have a purpose. It’s what I’ve learned and I’ve always had a purpose,” she said.
Mancuso is an employment counselor for supportive services, an Erie County non-profit organization that helps seniors with their job search and employers find qualified job candidates.
“I love seeing the face on some of these people when they come in here," Mancuso said. "They’re looking at myself at this age and I’m working and many of the people who work here that are not all far from my age and we’re working and we’re loving it.”
Richard Durwald is 83. He is so active that he’s known as Mr. Fitness. Durwald is the coordinator for the Erie County Senior Fitness program, he’s also an exercise and body builder enthusiast.
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt this is the most satisfying, I feel very blessed and I also feel very thankful to be able to do this here today. I get so many people who tell me how much better they feel."
