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Two weeks ago the AARP Iowa team was in Spencer, Iowa for RAGBRAI. In a little over a week we will be stationed at the Iowa State Fair. In between these two huge events we have been working on finishing all the RAGBRAI events and working in preparation for the State Fair—all at the same time. In addition to those events, the interns are creating and presenting a final presentation to the AARP National Headquarters this Thursday and working to finish our list of businesses to evaluate for age-friendliness.

Our Ombudsman left us. (“Us” are the residents of the ALF I live in.) She resigned because, in addition to serving as our ALF’s Ombudsman, she had a “day job,” the job she held to earn a living. You see, working for us aged and disabled is a voluntary activity. It’s a choice a citizen makes to help the vulnerable in our communities.

AARP New Mexico is sponsoring a special play that looks at caregiving and aging: STILL IN THE GAME by Robert F. Benjamin, is an upbeat family drama about aging with grace, courage and humor, will be on stage in Santa Fe at Teatro Paraguas from Aug. 10-20, 2017.

Scammers may pose as relatives or friends, calling or sending messages to urge you to wire money immediately. They’ll say they need cash to help with an emergency – like getting out of jail, paying a hospital bill or needing to leave a foreign country. Their goal is to trick you into sending money before you realize it’s a scam.

Our informal polls are conversation starters, but the results are striking

On Wednesday, October 4 and Thursday, October 5, join AARP Maryland and the Baltimore County Department of Aging at the 2017 Power of Age Expo at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Maryland. Expo 2017 celebrates the event's 30th anniversary. The show welcomes 11,000 attendees comprised of older adults, baby boomers, caregivers, families, adults with disabilities (over the age of 18) and professionals.

A Message from AARP Pennsylvania State President Joanne Grossi

The Volunteer Portal Training Specialist works with the Office of Volunteer Engagement’s Volunteer Portal Training Team to provide Portal training support to state staff and volunteers. Responsibilities include leading state-initiated Portal training, webinars, and workshops in group or individual settings. Additionally, the Volunteer Portal Training Specialist role identifies promising practices for volunteer training support and helps increase awareness of the feature and benefits of the Volunteer Portal in the AARP volunteer community.

Last week I overheard one of our AARP volunteers in a spirited discussion with an AARP staff member. They were discussing how AARP was handling some issues and I quickly realized that there were different points of view being presented. The discussion was very kind and remained friendly the entire time, with many, “I understand where you are coming from…” phrases thrown around. I was not only impressed because it was one of the most respectful political discussions I have heard in a while, but also at how in-depth each person was at presenting their opinion and the level of respectful listening that was happening. The more that I thought about it, the more natural this occurrence seemed to me. Of course, AARP is a diverse organization with members with diverse opinions. The association has so many facets and provides so many different services for the 50+ community that it would be ridiculous to expect someone to agree with every single thing.

Tentative Agenda