AARP Kentucky

hi there listeners of accents a podcast for literature arts and culture I am your host Karina Stova and I have the pleasure of serving as the Director of the Kentucky Book Festival a program of Kentucky Humanities the next installment of kbf will take place on November 2nd at Joseph Beth book sellers from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. today's episode features two friends and supporters of the festival Gary Atkins and Scott wiast Gary is Volunteer State president and Scott is Communications manager at AARP AARP is one of the supporters of this year's Festival Scott Gary welcome to Accents I'm happy to be here uh it's good to join you it's a pleasure to be with you again here in Lexington wonderful thank you please tell us one thing we likely know about your organization and one thing we likely don't know one thing that you probably do know about AARP is that we advocate for folks that are 50 plus uh one thing that you probably don't know is that we advocate for folks that are 50 plus 30 plus 40 plus 20 plus we advocate for everybody because we're trying to do things that's going to improve life as you go older grow older um so that you can decide how you want to live as you age and what you may not know about ARP Gary started on it but you're never too young to join AARP and that is news for a lot of folks out there and you can begin at any age and start saving and it's exciting in Kentucky we have more than 430,000 members and a nationwide we have almost 40 million members and for those who don't know what does AARP stand for AARP stands for AARP we changed the name in 1999 when ARP did research and found people were not retiring as they once were at the same rate so we changed our name legally from the American Association for retired persons to AARP so We Shrunk it the the official legal name is simply a a p okay and it doesn't stand for anything no no it's not an acronym um formerly prior to 1999 and this name change it was the American Association for retired persons uhuh AARP it was founded by a retired house school principal princi Dr Ethel Percy Andress who in 1958 launched the American Association for retired persons but interestingly in 1947 Dr Ethel Percy Anders launched the national retired teachers association with some of the same social Mission um that we have today for ARP and that is really to enable people to live their best lives as they age what are your organization's goals this year our goals is to expand um and I just came in this position in January of this year our state director came into the position around September October 2023 yeah of last year and U we're we're want to expand our operation here in Kentucky uh most of our operations in has been in the Lexington uh metro area and in the Louisville Metro Area we've had some expansion in Western Kentucky because the past State president was from Western Kentucky I grew up up in Greenup County uh in Eastern Kentucky and I'm wanting and the state director is wanting to try to expand our operation into Eastern Kentucky South Central Kentucky uh Northern Kentucky uh those are areas that we've we uh we have had some programs before but we want to expand it out we're looking for volunteers across the state so that we can get our foot in the door in order to do presentations uh like on fraud awareness uh caregiving uh brain health uh veterans uh issues uh I was up in ashn Kentucky back in February of uh this year with the K Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs that we were servicing folks that were veterans up in that area uh talking about caregiving issues talking about various things that impact on on Veterans like uh fraud awareness uh unfortunately veterans are targeted quite often about fraud so we want to expand out and we're always looking for volunteers and along those lines part of our Outreach in Lexington Louis Bowling Green Woodford County um and and actually um in Berea age friendly communities has been a big part of our work in those communities um where we are looking at infrastructure we're looking at Social inclusion we're looking at ways that people can stay connected um which can mean Transportation it can mean digitally digital Equity is a going to be a continue to be a significant part of our rural Kentucky Outreach post pandemic world we we like a everyone else know digital is a way to reach in to new communities Statewide and that's a very significant part of our Outreach uh across the state and we have Community challenge grants here in Kentucky and Across the Nation with AARP that uh different uh communities uh Civic organizations uh some governmental agencies can apply for Grants they're quick short uh action grants where they can do improvements in their Community uh this year there was a community challenge grant that was granted up in U Mount Sterling Kentucky uh where they uh I think it's a an Arts Council up there is going to be able to expand an area a garden area outside their facility uh for beauty beautification in the community um but we have these little grants that are across the state uh that are given you apply for them do you have to be a nonprofit to apply yes but it's it's a good opportunity for communities to be able to make improvements in their community on on our dime the Lial Community challenge grants in its seventh year and has uh ARP is Don ated more than $7 million Nationwide to different nonprofits so every year beginning in around March is when the Louisville Community challenge Grants open up so that's exciting um and it has been terrific to see all the various projects from across the state east west north and south where local organizations have launched these um community challenge grants like apples shop in in Whitesburg they've they've received two the lexin and Senior Center received one for a uh to improve the walking path at the lexon senior center so that's really exciting to see these things I don't want to say brick and mortar but tangible quick action grants to improve livable as we Define it communities the goal you mentioned at the very beginning we want to improve people's lives yes in both Lexington and Louisville there was a design competition to design accessory dwelling units these are a lot of times called you know Granny flats or they're called tiny houses where you can build a living space somewhere on your property legally and it can be um it can be a garage conversion it can be could it be a writer understood you absolutely absolutely and it could be a detached unit on your property Lexington legalized it 2023 Louisville legalized it 2023 and in Louisville they took it a step further and the division of planning had this design competition they selected 10 designs that are now available architectural designs ready to go that you can download and start building and that's what this challenge Grant did in Louisville in Lexington we worked with the University of Kentucky architectural School uh folks and the uh Lexington Senior Services to to host this design competition some of the designs were incredible and some of the ones you can download today from Louisville Metro Government are incredible and they're ready to go so what would you like the future of your organization to look like yeah that's a that's a that is a significant question ARP has a state office in every state including Puerto Rico um and the Virgin Islands so we have staff and an incredible number of volunteers on the ground working across the country um to serve the social mission to improve uh to change aging to change Aging for the better um to disrupt it to disrupt it the the stereotypes about aging um that's a significant part of what we do so Nationwide I think the goal for ARP is continuously improved to serve our members and everyone everyone that's 50 plus everyone that's aging which is all of us and to serve their needs and to be able to look ahead around the corner what's next is it going to social keeping Social Security solvent is it going to continue to deal with the affordable uh drug prices prescription cost or you know we we do a lot of work in Frankfurt with the members of the general assembly yeah I was going to say you know is that the job of arp we we Advocate there in in DC okay I was up there in U in June of this year uh talking to members of our legislative caucuses that were up there um and actually met with three of the Congress men um three of the the other uh Congressional offices staff because the Congressional members were actually on the floor doing votes so I didn't have a chance to talk to them but we also have an opportunity to talk to them here in the state so we we we communicate with our Congressional leaders uh with our Senate Leaders with uh our state legislator so we talk to our folks that are here not only when they're in Frankfurt but when they're out in the in the State uh because you want to develop a relationship with them and it's much easier to talk to somebody about a piece of legislation if you've had some Communications with them uh outside of that to to at least you know introduce yourself in a in a non-threatening type way uh we advocate for things that are going to impact adversely um on folks that are aging uh to try to get those sort of things not enacted and things that are going to improve the life of our citizens here in Kentucky uh especially those that are aging in a more positive way so I've had the opportunity to testify before some of the U uh the house and Senate hearings that we've had in Frankfurt this last session and uh looking forward to continuing to do that work and one of the things that's driving AARP is data and one of the things AARP does exceptionally well is our public policy research so we have an office in Washington DC that does nothing but research you have so many members you have access to all sorts of data all sorts of data uh and part of part of what we're doing now housing is a critical issue across the country and in Kentucky access to Equitable housing is an issue that we are following closely and plan to continue to work on in the general assembly there's a task force running now in Frankfurt um looking at housing cost and yesterday um Lexington mayor Gordon testified before the committee about the the Workforce Development aspect of housing if you're bringing in new jobs you're going to have to be able to have some Market with adequate and affordable housing um so the other piece of what we do especially with legislation is how can we help individuals stay in their homes longer right with some home modification some home design how do you help people live age place is sort of the term that's used and that is a big piece a big question and a big piece of arp's future is to continue that effort funding for Home and communitybased Services when someone can live in their home independently longer and avoid um institutional care like a nursing home there are some simple supports that folks can have like nutrition home delivered meals uh Personal Care attendance because people across the board all the surveys come back you know overwhelmingly yes I want to live in my own home for as long as possible in my neighborhood where I know my my neighbors and I'm a part of the community so that is a a continuous go for AARP um you know if there were a ARP party I would vote for that in November let me say this Dr Ethel Percy Andrew had a vision she was a Visionary she was ahead of her time and she saw very personally up close an a a retired educator a colleague she had worked with living in what she called a chicken coup substandard housing okay she had this Vision about doing more as we age and changing Aging for the better and she was incredible um 1947 started the national retired Teachers Association then 1958 started AARP and the social Mission Remains the Same today improving Aging for all yeah what we do we do for all that was sort of her tagline and you know to this day some 60 plus years later ARP is still out there hustling and working we are a nonprofit non nonpartisan organization it's the largest one in the nation that does this kind of advocacy work ARP is a 51 C4 and we have a 501c3 which is the ARP Foundation which takes on age discrimination litigation right and they they also run the program called tax Aid which does free tax filing every year so if you need your taxes done uh for free arp tax Aid is everywhere across the state almost I'm not going to say all 120 counties but they're out there working it's driven by volunteers they're trained by the IRS and they do hundreds of thousands of tax returns every year and here's what we do we give it all away aarp.org that's where it's at and you can download almost everything that we offer for family caregivers fraud prevention veterans digital Equity um Medicare brain health so livable communities age friendly communities and what drives what's underneath a lot of this is volunteers like Gary Right who give us so much time it's i' I've been amazed over the the years I've been here at the volunteers who just keep coming back and doing more so if you're interested in volunteering ARP might be a place to look and you can check it out at createthegood.org that's our website for our volunteer opportunities as well as other local volunteer opportunities createthegood.org and what motivated you to support the Kentucky Book Festival because it's a good cause I read books all the time and U you know I grew up reading books and AARP is an organization that has a book club uh it's in the magazine and and the like and you know we have folks that read read read you know I grew up up in Greenup County Kentucky and one of my father's uh cousins I guess he would be my cousin also was Jesse Stewart who was a an educator who was an author was a poet and U Jesse uh wrote an article about my father uh my father had fought in the first World War uh he born 1895 um first world war veteran wounded came back to Kentucky ended up getting involved with law enforcement was a constable was a deputy sheriff was a high Sheriff uh was a County judge and when he was long line of service you come from a long line of Service Gary well and and and that's part of why I've I've done what I've done my career uh in um and being in the Army I was in the Army for 12 years I was in um involved with uh prosecution of criminal offenses as a lawyer for U probably 20 6 27 years and uh helping others that's what I've always wanted to do and have done and AARP was just a continuation of that now uh Kentucky monthly magazine um Steve vest he's a friend of mine and uh I sent a copy of this manuscript that Jesse Stewart had sent to my father along with a postcard telling him hey there's going to be a photographer coming over to your office to take some pictures because he wanted to get this this article published in The Courier Journal but for whatever reason The Courier wasn't interested so he ended up getting it published in the ashin Daily Independent Newspaper well I sent this manuscript and information to Steve vest and uh last may or may of this year the Kentucky monthly magazine in the Kentucky exployer portion of it published this uh article um which was much longer than what they usually publish but because it was from Jesse Stewart they did and it made my my heart you know feel good that's wonderful let me let me had we had been working with Bill Goodman when he was a k okay and he approached ARP about hey supporting the Kentucky Book Festival and it was a natural fit from the very beginning so we were excited to do that arp's bookstore of course has savings discounts right we are known for ARP is known for its discounts and you can get discounts on new books through your ARP membership they're free free free ebook downloads from the ARP book club um our members are readers whether it's a digital format or whether it's still in print and that's why the ARP magazine remains one of the world's largest circulating magazines its editor right now is formerly the editor of the buring Stone magazine yeah so we have how did that come about you know that's a great story I would love to know the answer to that but check out arp's bookstore at aarp.org U you see what discounts what specials and you know um last year we had the authors of the whole body reset at the book uh at the Book Festival um and it's just terrific It's a Wonderful opportunity to meet our members where they are and also share more about a ARP people are like you are excited it's like I didn't know I didn't know this is what ARP was all about Scot what motivated you to get involved with AARP oh I was working in Frankfurt on some legislative issues and I was working with the lobbyist and I've always been driven by good public policy social justice and the common good and how that can be enacted in legislation um so I was working for the Catholic conference at the time with the four dases and we were working on some predatory lending uh issues and they that was legal loan sharking right so we were working on legislation to put caps on that so it was a wonderful opportunity um for me to join this amazing organization um which is Nationwide and I've had so many incredible opportunities uh to serve kuckian but also to be a part of a nationwide movement supporting changing Aging for the better I think we've got we're going to put that on a t-shirt might as well might as well so but that is that is a big part of how I landed at AARP Kentucky thank you and you Gary how did you get involved with ARP well I've been a member for a long time but uh when I was working in Frankfurt with the Department of financial institutions I was working there uh I don't know much about financial institutions honestly but I know fraud and they hired me because I was a felony prosecutor for the state and I knew what fraud was so I worked with our fraud investigators about securi fraud to help investigate and prosecute those type of cases and I came into contact with folks from AARP like this guy here next to me and um uh AARP and and or organization and the Kentucky attorney general's office would travel around Kentucky and do amam jams to provide information to Citizens out in the state about frauds and scams so anyway I never got to go out in the state to do that because I was a staff attorney and involved in these investigations and and prosecutions I that wasn't the side of what I was supposed to be doing but I had done that sort of thing uh and going out and doing presentations and the like uh when I worked with Northeast Kentucky Legal Services uh and in doing presentations to senior centers for uh uh different things and then I was doing presentations all the time when I was in trial because I was doing presentations to a jury or to a judge okay so when I retired from the state I went to a movies for grown-ups that was sponsored by AARP I found out about and I ran into this guy there and we got to talking and he said hey there's there's this organization that we've got here in Lexington area you might want to come to a team meeting and and visit and I did and boy did I get hooked wow oh yeah we got a rope on him yeah they they they put the hook in me and uh they'll never let you go well I you know I started working with the with the Lexington team and doing things with them uh Shredding Events tabling events just different things and then started doing some fraud presentations with the the Lexington team that uh not only in Lexington but out and about in the in the state and uh then it kind of expanded from there and like so many other volunteers Gary brings so much experience to our volunteer core that gives us an incredible resource to deliver on the AARP social Mission with those volunteers um experience time and talent um just makes a huge difference in in reaching out and connecting the thing Gary did not mention he's a retired army officer and he's been incredibly helpful with our veterans and Military Family Outreach ARP recognized 10 years ago that we had to address the needs of veterans because they're different um and develop specific resources for veterans and their families um and so that's another area that Gary excels in is the Veterans um Outreach that we do state Nationwide we have about six million members AARP members that are identified as veterans and there's probably more right having veterans talking to Veterans is a and instant F absolutely yes you know and credibility it's the same with any other when we're talking to Consumers about fraud and scams you have that personal connection going on and the scam jams Gary mentioned they're sort of like a TED talk with different speakers law enforcement FBI local law enforcement um postal post off United States Postal Inspector the department of financial institutions uh local Bankers you know there is just a great collection and so the ARP is a catalyst for change on November 2nd ARP will have a presence again at the Kentucky Book Festival are you going to be there oh absolutely we're pretty sure it's going to be a great time oh it it it always is it is a great time I was there last year the parking's free yeah yes you know and that's great and I have to say I hope maybe I bump into sil's house again thank you for coming to accent and we'll see you at the festival November 2nd 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Joseph bth