Olga Murray of Sausalito, Calif., has traveled the world and held fascinating jobs, but nothing has given her more satisfaction than her encore career of preventing young Nepalese girls from being sold into slavery.

“I loved my work, but the last 25 years have been the best years of my life because of the work I do now,” say Murray, now 83. “It is so unbelievably satisfying. I feel I am getting far more out of it than I’m giving. I have friends that say, ‘Nobody needs me anymore,’ and I always say to them, ‘Go out and do something for someone and see how you feel.’”

Nearly ten years ago, Richard and Michele Steckel decided they couldn't sit by and just watch as people all over the world experienced the mayhem of ethnic cleansing, race riots and hatred.

To bridge divides, they sought to chronicle in photographs the humanity shared by all people - a project that led to a traveling exhibit they named "The Milestones Project."

The Steckels, 2007 Purpose Prize fellows, have now been honored by the National Education Association with its "Author-Illustrator Human and Civil Rights Award."

Longtime technology educator Dr. Wesley Perusek has pioneered innovative projects in New Jersey and Ohio. He proposes the development of a cadre of experienced educators to help teach science, technology, education and math (STEM). He writes:

Imagine the potential of just those retired educators listed if a mechanism was in place to bring them all to one or several focus groups. Problems in education remain and grow almost daily. Look alone at Colin Powell’s America’s Promise Alliance and the drop-out problem.

Look at the National Commission on Adult Literacy citing: “More than half of U.S. workers lack basic education and more than 1.2 million young adults – one in three – drop out of high school each year.”

How do networks of good people doing good works begin?

Older workers who haven’t looked for jobs in years are in for a big wake-up call, writes Bob Moos in his latest Dallas Morning News column. They need to tune up their skills and tone down their attitude in order to get hired in the current weak economy,

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, long a champion of what he calls “bright-eyed young people” trying to save the world, gives a full-throated endorsement of encore careers in his latest column.

Richard Stengel, Time magazine’s managing editor, kicked off the latest issue with a note to readers announcing a service “summit” in New York City on September 12.

“It is a unique moment for the idea of national service,” Stengel wrote. “You have two presidential candidates who believe deeply in service and who have made it part of their core message to voters. You have millions of Americans who are yearning to be more involved in the world and in their communities. You have corporations and businesses that are making civic engagement a key part of their mission.”

With the original Sun City, Arizona pioneered the model for “the golden years” vision of retirement as leisure. Now the state is pioneering a new model for the second half of life, in which experienced adults use their time and talent for the benefit of the community and themselves.

The center of activity is Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and contains more than half of the state’s population. By 2030, Maricopa expects a population of more than 6 million people – of whom more than 1.3 million will be over 60.

Rather than seeing those older adults as needy recipients of services, Arizona is tapping them as contributing providers. The Arizona Mature Workforce Initiative, with the motto, “Experience is Our Business!” has connected over 500 mature workers to employers, and has laid the groundwork for much greater impact, with job fairs, a job bank, a workforce transition center at a local community college and a program that certifies “mature worker friendly” employers.

P.J. Ferrin’s parents were diagnosed with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases when she was 52. Ferrin left a 15-year business and management career in the software industry to work in her parents’ nursing home in a small community about 90 minutes outside of Seattle. After eight years, she’s contemplating the next chapter, again.

Encore.org: How would you describe the experience of shifting from the software industry to a nonprofit nursing home?

The media is pounding out stories about boomers running out of money before they run out of time, prompting a flurry of proposals about how to get Americans to save more.

The plans are still couched in the language of “retirement,” but they may be even more useful in enabling encore careers by providing a financial cushion for career switches that may bring greater meaning and income but perhaps smaller paychecks.

The New America Foundation posed the question, “Should the U.S. Mandate Private Pension Saving?” The event touted the example of Australia, where the average worker Australian retires with about $500,000 more in savings than the average American, thanks to a national system mandates a 9 percent contribution from employers.