Grier Mendel

By Phil Zarlengo, AARP Volunteer Transitions alumni coordinator and former AARP Board chair*

Chatter is a social networking tool on the Volunteer Portal that allows you to connect with other volunteers, join groups relevant to your volunteer assignment and share links and ideas that might be useful to others. It's a great resource - and is at it's most productive when users follow some basic ground rules! Before using Chatter, please review this etiquette guide to ensure that Chatter remains a productive space for all state volunteers and staff.

The AARP Fraud Watch Network is working with the US Postal Inspection Service to raise awareness of common scams that target America’s military veterans.

This summer’s volunteer-driven AARP Foundation Summer of Service to Seniors engaged more than 7,700 volunteers in four cities to help raise awareness of hunger among older adults. Meal packing events in Memphis, Denver, the Twin Cities and Washington, D.C., drew volunteers of all ages and produced more than three million meals for seniors in those regions. Follow the Foundation on Facebook or Twitter, or send a request for more information to FDN-Volunteer@aarp.org.

The Volunteer Portal Training Specialist works with the Office of Volunteer Engagement’s Volunteer Portal Training Team to provide Portal training support to state staff and volunteers. Responsibilities include leading state-initiated Portal training, webinars, and workshops in group or individual settings. Additionally, the Volunteer Portal Training Specialist role identifies promising practices for volunteer training support and helps increase awareness of the feature and benefits of the Volunteer Portal in the AARP volunteer community.

Volunteer Portal users must have an active account with AARP.org in order to access the Volunteer Portal. If you’ve changed your email address, visit here for step-by-step instructions on how to update it on AARP.org so that you can receive notifications and log in to the Portal with your new email.

By Phil Zarlengo, AARP Volunteer Transitions alumni coordinator and former AARP Board chair*

For a startling number of older adults, poverty is a fact of life that threatens to put the American Dream out of reach. And more than 10 million adults 50 and older are at risk of hunger every day because they lack reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

AARP hosts twice monthly Teletown Hall Calls to keep state volunteers up to date on key issues affectiiong our members and their families. We are currently seeking a few additional screeners for the Volunteer Teletown Halls held the second Thursday of each month (from 2pm – 3pm ET) and the final Thursday of each month (from 7 – 8pm ET). Training is provided for this fun way to help raise the voice of volunteers. The screener can join from anywhere and only needs a phone. To sign up or request more information, please contact the Volunteer Helpline at volunteer@aarp.org or 1-866-740-7719.

By Kamili Wilson, AARP Vice President for Enterprise Initiatives