AARP Kansas

Note CHANGE IN TIME: AARP Kansas is excited to announce that the first Grandparent Park in Kansas will open officially on July 20 with a dedication ceremony beginning at 9 a.m. The park is located at Estelle and Kellogg in Wichita. Join Mayor Brewer, Councilwoman Williams, AARP, and other community leaders and neighborhood residents for all the festivities. There will be music, Tai Chi, balloons, walking program sign-up, ice cream and a drawing for gift certificates from First Gear Sports in Wichita. For more information, e-mail ksaarp@aarp.org or call 1-866-448-3619.

Here I go celebrating another holiday! I can’t help it. Each month presents an array of official and unofficial opportunities to learn more about a culture, bring attention to a concern we could all work together and solve, or just enjoy life! June is no different. This month is a great time to celebrate the adoption of our flag, the diversity of our population, the importance of fathers, and the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice! The Summer Solstice occurs around June 21 st here in the US and is sometimes referred to as “Midsummer”. Formal celebrations include festivals across the United States, such as the Midsummer’s Festival in Lindsborg, which features a Kubb Tournament among other family favorites.

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.

AARP Foundation Establishes Relief Fund for Victims of Oklahoma Tornadoes

Here's another poignant poem by Topeka writer and AARP volunteer Annette Billings!

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.

More than six and a half percent of older adults in Kansas face the threat of hunger

By Maren Turner, AARP Kansas Director