The Heart of Giving: AARP Minnesota Volunteers

At the core of AARP Minnesota’s mission are incredible volunteers. We deeply appreciate their efforts in bringing AARP’s purpose to life to empower people to choose how they live as they age. Our volunteers are not only skilled and dedicated but also passionate about giving back to their communities and supporting the 50-plus population in living their best lives.

In November, AARP Minnesota celebrated our volunteers and presented two individuals with the Award for Excellence in Advocacy and the Award for Excellence in Community Service.

Award for Excellence in Community Service

The 2024 AARP Minnesota Award for Excellence in Community Service has been awarded to Jim Scheibel. This award recognizes outstanding AARP Minnesota volunteers who fostered significant community outreach and exhibited commitment, innovation, and mentorship in the pursuit of improving the lives of people 50 and older and their families.

Jim has an extraordinary legacy of public service that began long before he began sharing his time and talent with AARP. With AARP, Jim is largely responsible for integrating programs including Foster Grandparents, RSVP and Senior Companions into the Senior Corps. He worked to convene the first all-senior service programs conference, which resulted in more emphasis on quality results and greatly increased the visibility of the Senior Corps programs. His innovation led to the creation of Experience Corps, which is now part of the AARP Foundation.

As a volunteer, executive council member, volunteer state president and regional volunteer director, his work has been instrumental in reducing prescription drug costs, supporting caregivers, helping workers save for a secure future, and building stronger, more livable, age-friendly communities.

Award for Excellence in Advocacy

The 2024 AARP Minnesota Award for Excellence in Advocacy is awarded to Cheryl Salo. This award recognizes an outstanding AARP Minnesota volunteer who achieved a major advocacy accomplishment and exhibited commitment, perseverance, and collaboration in the pursuit of improving the lives of people 50 and older and their families.

Cheryl began volunteering as a Driver Safety Instructor in 2014 and quickly added on responsibilities and leadership roles, becoming the CarFit Program Coordinator and then the Driver Safety State Coordinator. She is a trained facilitator for AARP’s We Need to Talk  seminar and was recently named a Marketing and Recruitment Specialist. Most recently, Cheryl was appointed as a CarFit Instructor—a designation reserved for highly qualified individuals who demonstrate exceptional knowledge and commitment to the program.

This year, Cheryl took her passion for ensuring people's safety on the road to the state capitol. Cheryl tirelessly advocated and mobilized others to support the passage of a new Minnesota State Law that reduced the 8-hour driver safety course to 4 hours to increase course participation.

Cheryl persuaded her lawmakers to support the bill, gave compelling testimony in hearings, participated in media interviews, and provided education to AARP advocacy volunteers. She also organized 120 other state instructors to take action and even mobilized AARP competitors to contact their lawmakers.

Cheryl's advocacy was crucial in the passage of the new Minnesota state law which is now making classes more accessible to seniors and helping them stay independent and safe on the road.

In addition to these two awards, AARP celebrated the 2024 AARP Andrus Award for Community Service for Minnesota, awarded to Nancy Alvarado. This award recognizes individuals who are sharing their experience, talent and skills to enrich their communities in ways that are consistent with AARP’s purpose and vision. Their commitment to volunteer service embodies AARP's founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, belief in the power of ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Read more about the Andrus Award and Nancy Alvarado.

All three of these outstanding volunteers' records of achievement, service, and commitment provide an extraordinary example of the difference that volunteerism can make in the lives of individuals and in the well-being and vitality of a community.