Home

Your True Story

Be an inspiration to others. Add your story to the more than 70 people profiled on 2young2retire.

 True Stories

Arline McGraw Oberst:
Early Childhood Expert Becomes
Speaker & 'Chicken Soup' Author

Arline Oberst, 65, met Jack Canfield in 1993 at a seminar on facilitating skills in California and the rest, as they say, is history.  After this “turning point in my life,” she continued to study with Canfield and was soon assisting at seminars with the co-author of the Chicken Soup series.  By then, her resume included decades of active volunteering for her church, home school association, political campaigns and service clubs in her West Essex, New Jersey community.   The “stay-at-home” mom, had also launched a successful daycare center in 1970 (sold in 1986), become active in early childhood care, and a spokesperson for child abuse prevention.   

As she began to evolve into a professional speaker, trainer and volunteer coordinator, Arline noticed that stories about volunteers “read more like a report to the media rather than a true experience.”  Surprised to find very few books on volunteerism in the libraries and bookstores, she decided it was time to create a book that was filled with the heart and soul of volunteering. In 1997 Arline brought the idea for Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul to Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.  Then began "four years of Heart Labor" as she and her co-authors sifted through six thousand stories, poems and recollections about the volunteer experience that they distilled into the finished work.     

The result: Chicken Soup for the Volunteer’s Soul : Stories to Celebrate the Spirit of Courage, Caring and Community (Health Communications, 2002).  The book was written to “recognize our most important ‘ majority’ - volunteers, the ‘quiet majority.’ Not to be mistaken for the ‘silent majority’ for there is nothing silent about the noises of a wheelchair being pushed down a hallway, or the laughter that comes from the heart. These volunteers are not silent - they just quietly go about their service everyday, with no fanfare.”

Recently, Arline Oberst was the keynote speaker at the New Jersey Governor’s Conference on Volunteerism.  She is president of Lifetime Resources for Women, specializing in volunteerism, stress management, higher wisdom and inspirational programs, and member of the National Speakers Association, Holistic Health World Speakers, and Great Women Speakers.com.  She is just hitting her stride: “Like so many people today that have reached their "Enlightened Years" of maturity I never thought about retiring.  In fact I feel like I am just beginning several new careers all at once.  I come from a family that worked well into their 70's and 80's and I saw how that benefited them in their mental, emotional and physical health.  I intend to do the same.”

Getting Started

Arline’s dream is “to continue my work as a speaker, author, trainer and travel all over the world for the rest of my life.  I market myself every day and I challenge myself to do five things every day to bring me closer to my dream.”  What's your dream?   What daily steps can you take to make it a reality?

For further information about Arline's keynote speaking and training, or to order signed copies of her book, you may contact her at her website www.ArlineOberst.com or e-mail her: ArlineO@arlineoberst.com  

Whatever your business goals, become a whiz at self-promotion on the Internet.  Check out www.artofselfpromotion.com

Home | True Stories | Your True Story
2Young2Retire in the News
Top 10 Ways | Free Newsletter | Links 

Copyright 2004 2Young2Retire.com, All Rights Reserved