For Volunteers, an Up-Close Look at Legislative Process

Sam Waldrep worked in the aging field for 40 years, following a passion that developed when he was a boy watching both of his grandmothers struggle as they got older. As an adult, he was a social worker, and later served as the state’s deputy director for long-term care.

Upon retiring, volunteering with AARP seemed like a natural fit. “Not being involved in aging would be kind of foreign for me,” says Waldrep, 72, of Columbia.

He is one of about 60 legislative volunteers working with AARP staff seeking to influence policies affecting South Carolinians 50 and older.

And there’s always a need for more such volunteers, according to Nikki Hutchison, associate state director of advocacy for AARP South Carolina. The state’s next legislative session begins in January. “Volunteers are our crown jewel,” Hutchison adds. “They are the heartbeat of this organization.”

Taking on tasks

The work of volunteers can include writing opinion articles or letters to the editor for a local newspaper; talking with or messaging legislators; attending hearings or meetings; or testifying about proposed legislation. Volunteers with subject-matter expertise could find themselves helping draft legislation.

“It’s as much or as little time as they want,” Hutchison says. The work is nonpartisan and tends to be episodic, depending on how issues progress through the legislative session.

New volunteers receive extensive training, Hutchison says. They’re educated on AARP’s priorities, given a manual of legislators and their interests, prepped on delivering talking points, and taught how to track bills and connect with local officials.

AARP South Carolina’s volunteer state president, Cassandra Addison, advises those interested in becoming a volunteer to pinpoint their passions and then concentrate on related topics.

Addison, 73, of Hopkins, near Columbia, began volunteering with AARP Foundation Tax-Aide. After moving to South Carolina, she joined her local chapter’s legislative committee.

“It was a perfect fit for me,” Addison says. She knew her way around legislative work, having retired in 2016 as a Washington, D.C., governmental affairs representative for Duke Energy. Addison also worked for a congressman earlier in her career.

Caregiving is one of her top concerns. She and her husband took care of her late mother-in-law when she was sick. Addison shares that story and advocates for more resources, saying she sees it as “common ground where everyone can come and meet.”

Volunteers represent a range of backgrounds, from retired teachers and social workers, to government and nonprofit employees. No specific skills are necessary.

Since legislation doesn’t happen overnight, advocacy volunteers should expect to practice their patience. As Addison says: “We’re ... planting the seeds for future outcomes.”

In the upcoming legislative session, AARP South Carolina advocacy volunteers could work on several issues, including tax credit options to help offset out-of-pocket caregiving expenses, proposals to help consumers with utility costs, efforts to improve public transportation, and strategies to increase the availability of affordable housing.

AARP also plans to advocate for an increase to Medicaid’s personal needs allowance for nursing home residents; it is set at $30 per month while neighboring Georgia and North Carolina allow $70.

Finally, legislation to curtail predatory lending practices may also resurface in 2025.

“It’s a vulnerable consumer issue where a lot of our seniors get trapped into these cycles of debt,” says Hutchison of AARP South Carolina.

Interested in volunteering? Email scaarp@aarp.org.

Sarah Hollander, a freelance writer and former daily newspaper reporter in Cleveland, Ohio, has written for the AARP Bulletin for 15 years.

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