Content starts here
CLOSE ×
Search

AARP Volunteers Giving Americans Their "Say"

This is a guest post by Margot Seay. Margot is AARP's first National Volunteer Director. 

AARP launched You've Earned a Say (YEaS) this spring to take the conversation about Medicare and Social Security out from behind closed doors in Washington and bring it into states and communities across the country.

The effort has been huge, and the response ... overwhelming!  We have held more than 3,200 You've Earned a Say events nationwide, generated more than 1,500 media stories, engaged more than 3.6 million Americans and collected more than 2.6 million YEaS questionnaires.

AARP has been able to give so many Americans their "say" because of the dedication and hard work of thousands of committed volunteers.  Volunteers sharing questionnaires with the friends and neighbors; facilitating conversations at churches and community groups; staffing tables at health fairs; organizing town halls; engaging visitors on the You've Earned a Say Tourmobile and much, much more.

_DSC0116 (1)
Volunteers sign up for You've Earned a Say in Little Rock, Ark. last March.
KELLY QUINN



Take Sanford Holmes, Regional Volunteer Lead for Southwest Ohio and 2008 AARP Ohio Andrus Award recipient.  He took the bull by the horns, coordinating more than 30 You've Earned a Say listening sessions in his area with a team of 10 volunteers.  In just one day, at the Dayton Senior Citizens Day, he netted 431 completed YEaS questionnaires.

Or Alaina Serrano, a woman in her early 30s with a personal mission to bring the conversation to Asian American young people.  Since YEaS kicked off, she led 13 presentations in the Philadelphia area with audiences ranging from 30-240 individuals; helped with other events and generated 900 completed questionnaires.   Sharing her recent diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis, Alaina emphasizes the importance of Medicare for people of all ages with chronic diseases.  She's never off duty, even taking the call to a Sunday barbecue in her mother-in-law's backyard!

"Alaina and Sanford represent the great work across the country these past seven months - valuable progress that state office staff and volunteer teams have had a huge hand in building and executing and that we appreciate so much," says AARP Campaigns' Will Phillips.

The election is now over and the votes have been cast and counted, but the work of AARP on Social Security and Medicare continues with reelected and new members of Congress under the You've Earned a Say banner.  Find out what you can do to help us keep the steady drumbeat going by contacting your state office or visiting www.earnedasay.org.

Search AARP Blogs

Related Posts
October 27, 2015 05:58 PM
Lexi Jadoff, 31, is a driven, ambitious Washington, D.C., consultant with a unique way of de-stressing. She volunteers with The Reading Connection (TRC), a nonprofit that promotes reading for at-risk families. Jadoff is among the Read-Aloud volunteers who read each week with children at shelters…
September 17, 2015 02:29 PM
Some people take a fitness class before heading to work. Others jog a mile or two. Jennifer Kenealy, 45, gets her morning workout by hauling boxes of children’s books to schools, recreation centers, youth-focused nonprofit organizations and other sites. These are spots where children of low-income…
September 08, 2015 11:10 AM
Men in tuxedos and women in sparkly jackets mingle in the Green Room of the Little Theater of Alexandria (LTA) in Virginia. A pianist in the far corner plays show tunes on a baby grand piano while a small group sings “Hello, Dolly.” Other guests sip wine and nibble on artistically presented hors…