The department of health and senior services may establish a program under which elderly persons who are sixty years of age or older and others who have designated an elderly person as a beneficiary may volunteer their time and services to an in-home service or voluntary agency serving the elderly or to a not-for-profit organization or agency which provides services that benefit the elderly which is approved by the division and receive credit for providing volunteer respite service, which credit may then be drawn upon by such elderly persons or designated elderly beneficiaries when they themselves or their families need such respite services. The division shall establish a registry of names of such volunteers and shall, monthly or as often as it deems necessary for efficient management of the program, credit each of such volunteers with the number of hours of service each has performed for organizations and agencies approved by the division. No person serving as a volunteer pursuant to any program established by the division under the provisions of this section shall be credited for more than ten hours of volunteer service under this program per week.