As of November 1, 2025, millions of Americans—including many older Kansans—may not receive their monthly food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. This disruption affects individuals living on fixed incomes, many of whom rely on SNAP to afford groceries and maintain their health.
November is National Family Caregivers Month, a chance to recognize the contributions, commitment, and sacrifices made by America’s 63 million family caregivers every single day.
The tragedies that befall others always seem to provide a brutal clarity to our own vulnerabilities. For example, the tornadoes and flooding that have affected so many in the Midwestern part of the United States in the last few weeks have served as a stark reminder that a natural disaster has many degrees of destructive power. Many small tornadoes touched down across the Midwest but caused little damage. However, the tornadoes that struck on two separate dates, destroying parts of Moore, Oklahoma and costing many lives, were huge, powerful, and deadly in the paths they took through heavily populated areas and across major travel routes.
Like most laws, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the health care law, is complex. Who could forget all the talk about this over 900-page document? You don’t need to read the entire law, but you do need to understand what the changes in the law mean to you. How the law works for you is based on who you are, where you live, and what your health status and health coverage is.
The Olympic spirit is coming to Wichita with a free screening event of the documentary Age of Champions! The film is being sponsored by AARP Kansas and the Wichita Area Retired School Personnel.
In the past few weeks, I've been able to attend a 3-year-old’s soccer game, a 5-year-old’s t-ball game, and an 11-year-old’s first school play. Being Grandma is kind of fun, for me, because I didn’t have children of my own – the children I watched are my oldest step-daughter’s children. I’m a grandma to six young people now, and it amazes me how much they learn from one visit to the next. It also amazes me to watch my step-daughters caring for these little ones and guiding them toward adulthood.
I try to keep up with the news and activities in Washington as much as I am able. But there are so many abbreviations and unfamiliar terms in the news coming from current activities and debates that I feel like that famous groundhog who sticks his head out in the spring, looks around, dislikes what he sees or hears and decides to go back to sleep. I think that there are many who have similar reactions to news from Washington. But now, more than ever, that news has the potential to dramatically change my life and the lives of my loved ones, so I’m trying to educate myself.
AARP Kansas, teaming up with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), will host “encore entrepreneur” events in Kansas during the month of April. The first event will be held in Wichita at Wichita State University’s Marcus Welcome Center on Wednesday, April 17 th from 2 to 5 p.m. The second event will be in Topeka at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, April 29 th from 9 a.m. until noon.