Thank you AARP ND Volunteers

April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month and at AARP North Dakota, we are grateful to work with extraordinary volunteers every day. Their dedication, passion, and commitment make a positive impact in communities across the state, and their work ensures that North Dakotans aged 50 and older thrive as they age.

As State Director, I have the honor of working alongside many of our volunteers in North Dakota, and I’d like to highlight a few areas where their work is especially beneficial:

• Our volunteers bring their voices to local government, the Capitol in Bismarck and the halls of Congress, testifying and sharing personal stories of fraud, caregiving and health challenges. Their actions have helped secure transit funding, lower prescription drug prices, realize greater protection from fraud, and fight for affordable utility rates for North Dakotans.
• Our Driver Safety volunteers help older adults remain behind the wheel longer and with greater skills – ensuring more independence as we age, and often, auto insurance discounts, too.
• Nearly 3,600 North Dakotans have received free tax preparation from our AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers in 2024, a significant increase from last year.
• Every week, our volunteers serve as spokespeople in the media, greeters and facilitators at events, and trusted voices representing AARP in their communities.
• Our Speaker’s Bureau volunteers speak to community groups, state agencies, and churches about subjects ranging from Social Security to brain health to fraud. In 2023, these volunteers gave 41 presentations across the state, and already have 17 presentations in the books in 2024.

Our volunteers are at the very heart of our mission and help us live up to the challenge issued by our founder Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus more than 50 years ago to “serve, not to be served.”

To learn more about the work our volunteers do, visit our volunteer informational page here. To those that volunteer with AARP, thank you.