Gayle Brown Olson has been awarded the 2025 AARP Andrus Award for Community Service for Minnesota. The annual award is AARP’s most prestigious and visible volunteer award.
Minnesotans who have been defrauded now have a better chance of financial recovery, thanks to a new bipartisan law championed by AARP Minnesota. The Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund, the first of its kind in the nation, was signed into law in 2025 with strong bipartisan support. This innovative fund will help victims of fraud recover lost money—especially in cases where scammers are untraceable or bankrupt.
A new AARP survey, released in conjunction with Social Security’s 90th anniversary, confirms that Americans highly value Social Security, and even more so than five years ago. The vast majority of Americans – 95% of Republicans, 98% of Democrats, and 93% of Independents – consider Social Security vital to the financial security of all Americans, and 67% believe it is even more important for retirees than it was five years ago.
AARP is working with Pollen Midwest, a nonprofit organization that promotes community building, to create the second annual Minnesota 50 Over 50 list. The crowd-sourced list will honor 50 Minnesotans 50 or older who are making a difference in their community.
In 2016 AARP Minnesota and Pollen launched Minnesota's first ever 50 Over 50 list. Journalist Seth Jovaag interviewed some of the honorees and we are re-sharing some of these stories as part of the nomination period for the 2017 50 Over 50 Minnesota list.
In the next decade as many as 750,000 Minnesotans will reach retirement age. However, according to a recent AARP Survey, an alarming number of them haven’t saved nearly enough.
Marie Knapp knows what it’s like to be lonesome. As someone who has moved frequently, she has felt what she calls “the sting of loneliness” that comes with a new town. Born in Haiti and adopted by a couple from the United States, Marie spent her childhood moving around Michigan with her family, who often had to relocate for her dad’s job. Once Marie graduated from high school, she continued to move—Georgia, Mississippi, Ghana, and Jamaica, among many other locations. Upon moving to Minneapolis in 2015, Marie decided to get to know her new community by reaching out to seniors who are at risk of the isolation and loneliness like she’d felt before.
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