Local volunteers recognized - The Ultimate Cheapskate - The art of fishing - And much more...
December 2014
Barbara and Charles Smith of Lander have been selected by AARP to receive the 2014
AARP Wyoming Andrus Award for Community Service -- the Association’s most prestigious and visible state volunteer award.
Named for AARP founder, Ethel Percy Andrus, the award recognizes outstanding individuals who are making a powerful difference in their communities in ways that advance AARP’s mission, vision, and commitment to volunteer service and that inspire others to volunteer.
The Smith’s were selected for their extensive community service which has greatly benefited communities in Fremont County and inspired other volunteers.
They have been volunteers with AARP for 12 years. Charlie started out with AARP as an Executive Council member and Barb was the AARP Lander Chapter president for years. After Charlie finished his term on the Executive Council, he continued to serve as AARP Wyoming national
issues spokesperson, Divided We Fail campaign volunteer leader, Lander community volunteer and, most recently, on AARP’s national Volunteer Leader Institute representative.
In Charlie and Barbs spare time outside of AARP, they were full-time caregivers to Barb’s mother for eight and a half years.
Barb also volunteers with the local hospital auxillary and is part of its leadership team and she volunteers at the Lander Food Bank.
Among their many efforts, they helped with organizing a Lander Community Cleanup, Blizzard Box, and Drive to End Hunger efforts.
They exemplify AARP’s mission and shares that mission at the local level too. Their personal mission has always been about
helping people in their local community to age with dignity and purpose, well before they volunteered for AARP.
Whether it was helping with “Blizzard Boxes” to be delivered
via snowmobile to stranded seniors during Lander’s notorious snow storms or by helping to stop local scam artists, they were a part of it.
Simply the breadth and depth of what they have been involved in over the last ten years speaks highly of their achievements.
Barb and Charlie are not afraid to think outside of the box and are into commnity service for the long haul.
Charlie also serves as a volunteer board member, now Chairman, for his local Credit Union and was just reappointed as the Governor-appointed consumer representative to the Wyoming Board of Pharmacy.
Lander volunteers receives Wyoming Andrus Award
It’s that time of year again! The Wyoming legislative session
is almost upon us. This year is a general legislative session that will last 40 days from January 13th through the first week in March.
Wyoming state legislators will have their hands full debating many critical issues, some of which may have a major impact on Wyoming’s age 50 plus population.
So it is important that you, as concerned citizens do your homework on the key issues. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your local legislators with questions or concerns. Most legislators welcome your thoughts and are ready to listen to you. That’s what they are elected to do. AARP will be closely watching three priority issues:
Rewriting the Wyoming Telecommunications ActAARP’s longstanding
telecommunications policy and goal is to ensure that all Wyoming consumers have access to affordable, high quality telecommunications services.
The existing Wyoming Telecommunications Act accomplishes this goal, and AARP urges legislators to preserve the Act
by re-authorizing it (extending the “sunset date”).
AARP acknowledges that changes have taken place since the Act was first adopted, such as advances in technology, trends in customer usage, and the availability of Federal Universal Service Funds (USF).
However, we believe these changes do not justify the elimination (“sunset”) of the existing Act, and oppose any legislation that substantially deregulates the telecommunications industry, either now or in the future.
We support the following reasonable modifications to the Act. Specifically:
1) adopting a cost-based, state Universal Service Fund option for companies who provide local exchange service;
2) adopting a stable USF benchmark of $30 for essential telecommunications service; and
3) allowing providers who are currently regulated to achieve “parity” with non-regulated providers in areas deemed competitive by the Wyoming Public Service Commission.
Finally, AARP urges the
legislature to ensure that Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) protections are preserved. Essentially, COLR ensures the availability of basic phone service, at a reasonable price, and with reasonable quality.
The existing Act accomplishes this goal by requiring regulated carriers to obtain authority from the Public Service Commission
before changing or discontinuing an existing service, or before increasing the price for that service.
Let your state legislator know that access to affordable and reliable telephone service, no-matter where you live, is critical.
Medicaid ExpansionAARP
supports the optional expansion of Medicaid, as it could mean health insurance coverage for up to an additional 17,600 people and could save Wyoming a total of $47 million over seven years in reductions to safety-net programs within the Department of Health.
Copyright 2014:Please contact AARP Wyoming for permission to reproduce content contained herein.Volume 2: Issue 3 Editor: Tim Lockwood
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Tim summeRs
sTaTe DiRecToR
aaRP Wyoming
Big issues lay ahead for legislature
Contact your Legislator
Do you want your voice to be heard on important legislation. Then contact your legislators.
Call the legislative hotline at 1-866-996-8683 or visit the Wyoming Legislative Service Office webste at legisweb.state.wy.us and click on the link in the left menu labeled “Legislator Information.”
Or for more information on how to get involved, click on the “General Information” on the left menu and follow the links under the “How to Particpate” heading.
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Wyoming’s hospitals deal with the $200 million a year in uncompensated care costs that are currently shifted to all health care consumers.
Delaying expansion only deprives the state from millions that could be used to strengthen Wyoming’s economy and workforce.
We believe that Medicaid expansion is the fiscally right decision and direction for Wyoming in the 2015 session.
Wyoming State Retirement System
AARP will continue to oppose any proposal that would change Wyoming’s defined benefit system into a defined contribution model (similar to a private accounts-based 401K system), even if the proposal is only for newly hired
employees. The Wyoming Retirement
System is NOT in crisis. Currently, the largest state retirement plan is funded at about 77.6 percent and rising, which means that if each and every retiree and current employee collected their full pension amounts, the state would be able to pay out only 77 percent.
This situation is completely hypothetical. It assumes no other contributions would be made to the fund and that all payments are made immediately.
The Wyoming Retirement System Board, the Joint Appropriations Committee and the Legislature have been making adjustments and changes to the Retirement System since 2012, implementing common-sense, incremental changes to shore-up
the system for decades to come. These changes and adjustments
will take time to fully impact the system and should be allowed adequate time to work.
We will monitor all retirement system proposals to help ensure Wyoming’s Retirement System remains strong well into the future and that our members and the 50 plus who have been or are currently state employees, have strong pension protections.
Please let us know if you have any questions about these issues. Let your voice be heard on these and other issues that may impact you during the legislative session.
The best way to reach your legislator during the upcoming session is to call the legislative hotline at 1-866-996-8683.
Cheyenne Chapter members used this year’s AARP grant to acomplish multiple projects. They purchased trees and planted them at the VA Hospital’s Healing Garden. Other members purchased pots and pans and delivered them at the Salvation Army to use for lunch and holiday meals.
Other members purchased art supplies for the Boys & Girls Club.
The rest of the grant was used to address needs of the Safe Harbor agency that provides a friendly, safe and supportive environment for abused and neglected children.
The Cheyenne Retired Teacher Unit sponsored a wire frame topiary sculpture that will be stuffed with planted sphagnum moss. The Cheyenne Botanic garden offered a class inviting the public and retired teachers to help plant the topiary.
They took home a starter plant and cared for it until they can use it to fill in the topiary frame in the spring
time. Torrington Chapter members
used their community grant for the School Back Pack program for low income students. They filled the backpacks with school supplies and distributed them to students in need. They also purchased plants and seeds for the garden they developed at the Community Hospital last year.
They also used the funds to purchase pet food for the animal shelter.
Kemmerer Chapter members used their community grant to address several projects such as providing funds to the Lincoln County Self-Reliance agency that helps children with disabilities.
They purchased pet food and hand-delivered it to the Paws and Claws Shelter and sponsored the annual Target High School Graduation “after party” that provides a safe and supervised place for graduates to attend.
Rock Springs Community Action Team members collected donated items for the “May Basket” project and purchased other non-perishable items for homebound seniors.
They also hosted their annual Drive to End Hunger event that benefited the local food bank. The volunteers also helped with the annual Community Clean-Up Day.
Sheridan Chapter & Retired Teacher Unit members coordinated a “Honey Do” project to help seniors in need with minor home repairs, weatherization, fire and safety checks, and minor spring cleaning.
They recruited the Sheridan College, Serve Wyoming, Sheridan High School, and Scout troops to help with project.
Newcastle Chapter members used the grant to make May Baskets for 30 homebound seniors and helped the homebound to get rid of hazard materials during the Hazardous Material event.
AARP Chapters support Wyoming communities
Anybody who’s ever said fishing is just a hobby hasn’t
met Tom Mulhern.Tom is a lifelong fisherman
who has found a productive way to turn his hobby into a little extra
retirement income.
“You catch fish, and you might not really look at them,” he said. “You might not see how beautiful they are.”
But Tom does. He notices the shapes of the fins, the curve of the body and the way the colors shift depending on how the light hits them. And, he replicates all those wonders of nature in the artwork he creates.
Tom’s a wood carver, and his favorite subject is fish.
“It’s mainly trout,” he said. “But on request, I’ll do walleyes, bluegills or other fish.” And, for a change of pace once in a while, he carves hummingbirds and flowers, small human figures and just about anything else he can envision. But, he always comes back to fish.
He said he’s always been an angler, and that’s probably where the inspiration came from.
Tom didn’t just pick up a chunk of wood and start whittling, though. He’s originally from Brooklyn, New York, and while he was back east, he took a class that taught him how to turn clay on a wheel. From there, he began sculpting with clay. Sculpting tends to involve adding material until the desired object appears, while carving is the opposite.
“You have to stop carving before it gets too skinny,” Tom said. “You have to get a feel for it. It’s hard to repair the wood if you take off too much, so you have to know when
to stop.”But, it’s more than just starting
with a piece of wood and removing everything that doesn’t look like a fish.
Tom uses basswood timbers for the body of the fish. Those blanks are roughly four inches by nine inches. He draws the approximate shape of the fish on two sides of the timber then he cuts out the shape on his band saw.
“Then, I lock it in a vise and use big gouges to shape it,” he said. “That’s the fun part — the wood chips really start flying, and I start to see the fish emerge. It’s clearly a fish, but it’s still a little rough.”
Once he gets the shape he’s after, he uses a belt sander to smooth out the lines and take off the sharp edges. Then he starts working on the fine details with smaller knives. That’s where the features begin to take shape. He carves out the rays of the tail and adds the scales.
The fins are carved from another piece of wood — mahogany, usually — so they’ll be more durable.
“The direction of the grain gives it strength,” he said noting the
grain needs to run from the base of the fin to the edge; whereas, the grain on the fish itself runs down the length of the fish.
When he’s done carving, he paints the fish.
“I use oil paints,” he said. “It takes several days to paint. I paint one color one day, let it dry, then paint over it with the next color another day.”
Tom’s not satisfied with a straight fish on a board, though. He builds beautiful bases to hold his creations, and he carves rocks and even plants from more wood to create a habitat for the fish.
Tom Mulhern sets up the finished bluegill he carved in his basement workshop of his home in Cheyenne. Photo by Ty Stockton
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Fisherman creates art out of hobby
-By Ty sTockTon
guesT WRiTeR
“The grasses I carve from bamboo,” he said. “But, the hardest part is putting all the pieces together. It probably takes as much time to do that as it takes to do all the carving.”
It’s all worth it, though. When he’s finished, the fish look like they could swim right out of the sculpture.
“I do most of my work in the mornings,” he said. “I come down (to the basement workshop) and get to work.” He said it’s a great way to spend those cold winter mornings when he wouldn’t want to be outside fishing anyway.
“Everyone needs to have something like this in retirement.”
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Tom Mulhern shows off one of his favorite pieces, “Dream Stream II,” in the spare bedroom in his basement that also serves as a showroom for many of his finished carvings. Photo by Ty Stockton
Did you know that your utility company may have programs that can help you lower your utility bill? Their customer service representa-
tives are also aware of programs to help you pay winter heating
costs and avoid disconnection for non-payment.
Wyoming residents, like you, are strong and proud. You would never ask for help or even consider knock-ing on your neighbor’s door. We’ve heard you loud and clear, “I don’t take handouts.” But, maybe it’s time to get the help you need.
We’ve talked to many seniors who struggle to make ends meet every month. Have you ever had to decide between paying your heating bill or buying groceries? How about this one…Do I pay for my medicine or do I pay my utility bill this month? Seniors shouldn’t have to make this decision, especially with the number of winter heating payment assistance programs out there to help.
One program you should consider is LIEAP. Need assistance with your primary heating bills during the win-ter months? The Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) and
Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) may be an option for you.
The LIEAP program helps home-owners and renters that are low or living on fixed income pay their primary heating bill during the winter months. Anyone applying for LIEAP is also applying for WAP. In addition, LIEAP assists with utility deposits, propane tank sets, disconnect or shut-off notices, or out-of-fuel for propane, heating oil, wood, pellets, or coal, and broken furnaces.
The application period is from October 1, 2014 through February 28, 2015.
Application is required; if you were approved last year for LIEAP you will receive a prefilled application, which will need to be verified that the information is correct, and submit re-quired documentation. If you are new to LIEAP, you can download the ap-plication at www.dfsweb.state.wy.us, or call the LIEAP office at 1-800-246-4221 to have one mailed to you.
Energy Share of Wyoming is also another program that can help pay utilities. Energy Share of Wyoming is a private, non-profit organization established to help people in hard-ship circumstances with energy-related emergencies. It assists people
with energy problems when no other resources are available to them and when these problems are caused by circumstances beyond their control. You can find an application at www.energyshareofwyoming.org or your local Salvation Army.
Believe it or not, there are also several low-cost and no-cost ways to save money and energy, whether its lighting or appliance recycling and rebates, or residential energy im-provements, many utilities are there to help you, the customer.
There are also a number of Wyo-ming utilities that offer community weatherization programs for seniors.
We encourage you to contact your utility to find out if they offer home weatherization programs, energy ef-ficiency rebates or free home energy audits. The free audits identify energy loss in your home and technicians share with you ways you can improve the efficiency of your home and lower your monthly energy bill.
We hope you will consider apply-ing for the programs we mentioned. We know Wyoming is proud, but we also know there are times when we need to reach out to one another to weather the storm.
Wyoming programs help keep the heat on
-By shaRon Fain
WiTh cheyenne LighT, FueL anD PoWeR
In the last several issues of the AARP Wyoming News, this
column focused on the Wyoming Secretary of State’s role in fighting Investment Fraud.
However, there’s another area of fraud
that Secretary of State, Max Maxfield, has been fighting just as vigilanty — Business Fraud.
Business Fraud involves business identity theft or filing false documents for deceptive purposes whereas with Investment Fraud an investor would make an investment decision based on fraudulent information.
When Maxfield took office in 2007, he didn’t run for the office with the intention of being in the national forefront to fight business fraud, but he realized not long after taking office that Wyoming’s business laws were attracting the wrong element and thus there was the potential for both Investment Fraud and Business Fraud.
History
Wyoming has long been a business-friendly state. It was the first state to adopt the Limited Liability Act; it has no state income tax; a quick, statutorily required five-day turnaround for business filings, rather than the 30- or 60-day periods businesses encounter in other states; and Wyoming requires minimal
information from a company that wants to establish itself.
The Problem
While those qualities make our state attractive to legitimate businesses, they also prove enticing to nefarious ones – so much so, in fact, that Wyoming, along with Nevada and Delaware, became the subject of a USA Today article that inferred these states were a breeding ground for fraud.
It exposed the potential of these states to become problem areas for money laundering through shell companies, and
it stated that Wyoming’s laws in particular provided questionable businesses “cloaking features.”
“The problem boiled down to difficulties for law enforcement,” Maxfield said. “When law enforcement needed to know who was behind a company, so they could pursue that company, we couldn’t tell them because we just didn’t have that information.”
Registered Agents
Compliance Division Director Karen Wheeler said businesses have always been required to have a “registered agent” to serve as the face of the business, but until recently, that requirement was difficult to enforce.
Maxfield, she said, recognized that unscrupulous people were taking advantage of this and setting up shell companies that could disappear when profits dried up, or when law enforcement started getting too close, leaving no face of the company in Wyoming.
“Some drop boxes were the headquarters of more than 1,000 businesses each,” Wheeler said. “This was not what the law intended and was totally unacceptable.”
The USA Today article caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) pledged that unless states addressed this problem and closed the loopholes allowing these companies to create false fronts in our states, he’d make sure the federal government took care of it.
Wyoming’s Answer
Maxfield didn’t want that federal one-size-fits-all approach. He knew in a state like Wyoming, we needed to remain business-friendly in order to attract companies to settle here, rather than in states with more infrastructure.
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State continues focus to combat business fraud
-By Ty sTockTon
guesT WRiTeR
Business Fraud vs. Investment Fraud:
Business Fraud involves business identity theft or filing false documents for deceptive purposes. Investment Fraud involves an investor making a decision to buy or sell investment products based on fraudulent information.
”
“
The Secretary of State deals with both types of fraud.
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He also believed that making our laws as restrictive as those of some other states would punish the “mom and pop” businesses that have operated legally and
ethically in our state for years, decades, or even generations, yet fraud had to be addressed.
In 2009, Maxfield’s staff worked with the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Corporations Committee to create a law that now deters the use of fraudulent addresses, increases oversight of registered agents and ensures law enforcement access to company contact information.
That law demands there is a human being living in Wyoming who serves as the representative for the business.
The registered agent can represent multiple businesses, but he or she must live in Wyoming and keep records about each company.
That person is subject to audits by the Secretary of State’s Office
to ensure information required by law is being maintained.
The Secretary of State’s Office has also been instrumental in drafting legislation to definitively
prohibit bearer shares; crack down on delinquent entities and false documents; create late fees and other penalties for registered agents who fail to renew their registrations but continue to do business; and dissolve commercial registered agents that don’t pay their fees.
The laws drafted to keep Wyoming business friendly while deterring fraud have been successful. In fact, Nevada followed Wyoming’s legislation, and have enacted their own laws based on Wyoming’s.
The Future
As with all criminal behavior, laws do not completely stop crime, they just help you take action when a crime occurs, and may in some situations, act as a deterrent.
“Unethical businesspeople are crafty,” Wheeler said. “So investment and business fraud is likely to continue to some degree.”
Even though Maxfield will be leaving his post in January, his successor will stay on his toes to
keep up with the new schemes these fraudulent companies come up with to skirt the law.
“Fraud is not an issue to be cured,” Maxfield said. “It’s not an event; it’s a process.”
Wheeler agreed. “We’re definitely not going to stop working to protect the people of Wyoming,” she said. “Types of fraud change.
It’s an issue that will always be out there. Secretary Maxfield initiated the process and we have built a great foundation that we can continue to build on,” Wheeler concluded.
If you’re hoping to make some of your hard-earned money work for you, investigate before you invest.
Contact the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Compliance Division at 1-307-777-7370 to check on specific investments.
Or visit the website at www.WyInvestorAwareness.gov for tips on how to tell the difference between a legitimate investment opportunity and a scam.
You can find more information at AARP’s Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.
The Fraud Watch Network is open to AARP members and non-members alike.
You can subscribe to Watchdog Alerts, stay up on con artists’ latest tricks, and find out what to do if you think you’ve been taken advantage of.
Resources
Illustration by istockphoto.com/RetroRocket
A conversation with the Ultimate Cheapskate - Jeff Yeager
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Coupon clippers, dollar menu devotees and dumpster
delvers may be extreme about sav-ing a buck, but few take frugality as far as the self-proclaimed “Titan of Tightwads,” Jeff Yeager.
AARP members might better recognize Yeager as the Ultimate
Cheapskate from his YouTube show “The Cheap Life” on AARP’s blog.
With four books about penny-pinching under his belt, Yeager is no stranger to the ins and outs of frugal lifestyle. Before taking up the pen, he spent 24 years as a chief ex-ecutive officer and senior executive with national nonprofit organiza-tions in Washington, D. C.
We were able to catch up to Yea-ger, a bicycling enthusiast famil-iar with Wyoming’s Grand Teton region, when he visited Laramie, Wyoming, in October to record the panel discussion for a PBS segment, “Your Retirement: More Bang for Your Buck.”
AARPWY: Do you have any favorite Wyoming locales?
JY: My wife and I are big fans of the Tetons and Yellowstone area, but I like the high plains area as well. I like the lack of population, the wide open spaces and the wild-life in Wyoming.
AARPWY: Does your advice re-garding frugality change for those who live in a rural setting?
JY: I try to write for the broadest possible audience. For a couple of my books, I’ve done surveys and interviews with a wide range of people who live frugally. Part of that demographic has been rural folks as well as urban folks. My
point about enjoying life more by spending less is that you can adopt that principle regardless of the lifestyle you lead. No matter age, sex or location, in a great many instances you can enjoy more by spending less. It’s not about sac-rifice or deprivation. It’s all about deciding what’s important in life and skipping the rest.
AARPWY: How did you be-come the “Ultimate Cheapskate?”
JY: Was I born this way or was it some genetic defect or some-thing? Well, again, I’m 56 years old, I grew up in rural, lower-middle class, and, you know, we had less money and less stuff back then, particularly my grand-parents, who raised families during the Depression.
I’ve learned a lot from them, and they lived to be quite old, so I had a chance to know them as a young adult. I didn’t really notice much about this stuff growing up, and then I moved east where I had about a 25-year career in the non-profit sectors.
I never made a lot of money, but I’m college educated as is my wife, and we had good jobs and did well for ourselves. In my 30s, I started to think that my wife and I had more money and stuff than my grand-parents did, but in many ways they enjoyed a better quality of life, and they were happier than a lot people in our generation.
So, I started thinking about the dynamic between happiness, money and stuff. What I noticed, at least in the case of my wife and I, is that we could be happier spending
significantly less money. That’s not to say we don’t splurge.
We travel extensively and have visited nearly 40 countries around the world for months at a time most years. But to counter balance that, we drive a 15-year-old pickup truck and we’ve never owned a cellphone.
These trade-offs are a differ-ent mindset than most Americans have, which I’m not saying is bet-
ter, but it allows us to enjoy our lives more. Most Americans see a new “tech-gadget” and decide they need it.
The smart ones will wait until they have the money, but most believe they need it in their life one way or another. Cheapskates are more selective in
their thought process; they try to balance out what they can afford with what will actually make their life better. I have this concept in my first book called “slaying your Enoughasaurus.”
The idea is to decide what enough stuff is for you and plan your life around that. That was kind of the thought process that led to me becoming America’s cheapest man.
That said I come from a long line of noble and proud cheapskates. In fact, the Yeager family crest bears the inscription “Spartacus Homo Erectus,” which, of course, is cheapskate who stands on two feet. This is all true stuff by the way. [Chuckling]
AARPWY: Is your wife as frugal as you?
JY: No one is as frugal as me. Do
-By ike FReDRegiLL
guesT WRiTeR
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I need to discontinue this phone call? [Shared laughter]
Particularly in my first book, my wife is sort of my comic foil: my “long-suffering wife.” We’ve been married 31 years or as she says three good years, and not all at once mind you. [Chuckling]
They have been good years. While I do tend to take frugality to an extreme, both of us have a similar attitude toward money.
The first years were a little rocky, because I was pushing this idea that if we were happy, we didn’t need to continue to spend. She wasn’t really buying into it at first, but eventually, she accepted it.
When she realized we could live off just one of our two paychecks, it was a relief to her we could main-tain our standard of living if only one of us were to continue work-ing.
AARPWY: Which of your frugal habits does your wife like the least?
JY: We have some flashpoints on grocery shopping. I write so much about food and shopping, I like to cook, and I love food. So, I have some strong opinions about how it should be done. That tends to drive her crazy to the point we shop separately now.
AARPWY: What is the strangest advice you’ve ever received about being frugal?
JY: There are the stories that border on bizarre. For instance, I don’t condone anything dishonest. But, I met this one greedy, un-pleasant, miserable guy, who gave cheapskates a bad name.
He traveled a lot in his work. When he was on the road, he would travel with his burned-out light bulbs from home, and before
he left the motel, he would switch out his bad bulbs for the motel’s good ones.
Under the category of just plain weird, a neighbor of mine, who is now deceased but was very fru-gal, criticized me for not being a cheapskate, because I paid to have my septic tank pumped. He
told me he cleans out his septic tank by himself using a bucket. He often wondered why we never invited him over for dinner.
Another cheap-skate I interviewed in Florida was ec-
centric to say the least. We were riding in her car, which I noticed was immaculately clean.
Cheapskates often tend to keep their possessions in good shape to make them last longer. But, the dashboard of her car looked like it was just “Armor Alled” that morn-ing.
So, I asked what her secret was. She said she saves the Q-Tips she used to clean her ears, and detailed her car with them. Of course, by then, I was already in the car. Too late.
AARPWY: What is the strangest tip you’ve ever given?
JY: I try to find stuff that isn’t a typical tip but still catches people’s interests. While I don’t drink a lot, I occasionally enjoy some wine. Of course, I buy boxed wine.
If I have dinner guests over, who care about what kind of wine they are served, I don’t decant the wine, I recant the wine. I have a couple empty, fancy wine bottles that people have given me throughout the years.
So, I funnel the box wine into the fancy bottles and serve the wine that way. I’ve done this for many years, and no one has ever questioned the authenticity of the wine I serve.
Keep an eye out for Jeff Yeager, the
Ultimate Cheapskate, on Wyoming PBS in December in
the special - Your Retirement: More Bang for the Buck
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Wyoming is fortunate to have the type of culture
and communities where helping others and supporting your neigh-bor is second nature.
Each year, we take the oppor-tunity to celebrate some of our greatest volunteers, and people we get to work with. Following is the seven Community Service Awards beside the Andrus Award that we handed out at our annual volunteer appreciation banquet in Cheyenne this October.
Wadda Community Service AwardJeri Kennah - Lander
Jeri has gone above and be-yond in making sure that forgot-ten residents who live in the nursing home receive a visit and special gift
during the holidays. For the past 23 years, she has served as a com-munity volunteer in many capaci-ties. Jeri volunteers at the hospital tending the gift shop and support-ing the hospital auxiliary. She can be found working on a project with her ETA service sorority or raising money for St. Joseph’s Children’s Home, senior center, the Help for Health bus or St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Jeri also serves as the volunteer Chair of the Supervisory Committee for the local credit union.
For 48 years, she volunteered as an election judge. She also has a lifelong commitment to the hu-manitarian mission of her church.
Jeri’s idea of relaxing is work-ing with her quilting club to make quilts for oncology patients or
anyone who is ill and needs one. She knows how a quilt can bring warmth to a cancer patient or comfort a grieving family member. Most of all Jeri’s community work brings warmth and comfort to all who meet her.
Community PartnerDan Purdue - Cheyenne
Dan served as the Executive Director of the Wyoming Hos-pital Association (WHA) for the past eight years. He is a strong community part-ner, working with many different organizations to make health care more affordable and accessible to all Wyoming residents.
Currently, he is co-chairing the Wyoming Medicaid Solutions Coalition, which is a delicate and demanding task given the diverse personalities and interests of Co-alition partners.
AdvocacyJana Ginter - Cheyenne
In 2005, Jana joined the AARP advocacy team. She worked exten-
sively with the team on con-sumer healthcare issues such as removing discre-tionary clauses from insurance contracts and helping urge
our legislators to set up a medical review panel for denied insurance claims. She worked with other AARP advocates on several bills to restrict predatory lending prac-
tices in our state. She continues to work to pass legislation to halt Medicaid fraud and works to make healthcare more accessible to all of Wyoming.
Retired EducatorsChuck & Anne Custis - Sheridan
Chuck retired 20 years ago as a counselor at Central Junior High School in Sheridan. He also taught at the Sheridan High School for three years. After Chuck retired, he joined the Wyoming Retried Education Personnel (WREP) and the Wyoming Educators Associa-tion. He was also a member of the Sheridan Retired Teacher Unit. He served in several officer positions such as president, legislative liai-son, and lobbyist for WREP and the WEA.
Cur-rently, he is the President of the Retired Teachers & Educa-tors’ Unit (RTEU). The former RTEU president, Wayne Schatz, was asked to be the President of WREP, so Chuck volunteered to fill the open RTEU vacancy.
Anne Custis taught family and consumer science for 30 years at the Central Junior High School in Sheridan. She is originally from Idaho, and received her teaching degree from Idaho State University.
Anne retired in 2003. It was a short retirement because she was asked to teach a child-care class parttime that included first-aid and CPR components for students and
AARP recognizes dedicated volunteers for service
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community participants. She became a member of WEA
and served as the WREP state sec-retary for six years. Anne contin-ued her volunteer work in WREP as a co-chairperson for two years and chairperson for four years.
Anne is also a member of the Wyoming chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma. She said that WREP and WEA opened the doors for her to meet other educators and expand her social network.
AARP Foundation Tax-AideJudy Nelson – Laramie
Wyoming Tax-Aide clients and staff know Judy as a tough, practi-cal lady, who gets the job done with diligence and pride.
After living in Saudi Arabia for 15 years, she bought her house, sight unseen, and moved to Lara-mie. Immediately, she recognized a need to assist the elderly popula-tion with filing their income taxes, so she volunteered with the Tax-Aide program.
Judy is a caring and reliable per-son, not only to the clients served, but also, her responsibilities as a District Coordinator (DC).
In addition to her DC respon-sibilities, Judy is also the Training Specialist and helped get a formal statewide training program in place for Wyo-ming instruc-tors. Last year, Judy took the bull by the horns and developed a comprehensive state training program.
Material from the various sourc-es are reviewed, consolidated and made available electronically and personally. This year, Judy recruit-
ed three instructors and will con-duct the first Wyoming Instructor workshop. All of this while endur-ing the stress of two knee surgeries.
Her attention to detail and a memory like a steel trap are valu-able assets to the program. Her commitment and willingness to step forward and assume respon-sibilities others shy away from strengthens the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program.
Driver SafetyLinda Harding - Cheyenne
Linda started teaching the AARP Safe Driver program in August 2012. In addition, Linda was asked to be-come the Safe Driver District Coordinator for
Laramie County. In October 2013, Linda was certified to teach the new AARP Safe Driver Course.
When Linda and her husband, Chip, became involved with the AARP Driver Safety course, they wanted to bring a different per-spective to the course and the co-teaching provided an opportunity to share a real-life viewpoint and experiences.
They felt it gives the students a break in listening to just one per-son and keeps boredom to a mini-mum.
Linda said she works with an amazing “team” of volunteer in-structors. She couldn’t do it with-out them, and their dedication to their work. Linda’s goal for each class is to learn one thing students didn’t know before coming to class. If they do learn something new, she feels the class was a success!
Chapter LeadersBill & Joan Cole – Cheyenne
Bill and Joan lived in Wyoming all their lives. Joan was a teacher at Dildine Elementary School for 22 years. Bill worked as a carpet in-staller at the Interior Service for 20 years. In addition, he worked with the school district in the main-tenance department for 12 years before deciding to retire. When Joan and Bill turned 50, they joined AARP and became members of the two AARP Chapters, 310 and 3146. Chapter 310 met in the afternoon and the Chapter 3146 met in the evening. As Chapter member-ship began to dwindle, the two Chapters decided to merge.
Joan and Bill have been Chapter members for 25 years. Joan has held officer positions as President, Vice-President, and Secretary for both Chapters. She is currently the President of Chapter 310. Bill at-tended the monthly meetings and provided his time and support at Chapter activities and events. Bill is no stranger to volunteering. He volunteers his time with Cub Scout and Boy Scout groups.
They both like to coordinate and participate in the bus trips for AARP members. Bill and Joan re-cently returned from New Orleans where they had 40 members join them. They see the trips as adven-tures members can socialize and meet new friends.
Have you been looking for a new challenge? Want an opportunity at a unique experience, not one of those “guided tours?” How about an outdoor adventure in Wyoming with a little help from a pack animal?
AARP and the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) have specifically designed a wilderness expedition for intrepid AARP members and friends who are interested in exploring your “Real Possibilities”
If you are seeking opportunities to learn new leadership skills, exercise creative solutions in a unique context and travel in a beautiful wilderness mountain range, then this adventure is for you.
The Wind River Range in Wyoming is the site for this expedition. This rugged, glacier-carved range is renowned for its sheer granite walls and famous for its fishing.
For 7 days, you’ll backpack through these mountains surrounded by towering peaks, glistening alpine lakes, and perennial snow, all with the help of some friendly llamas and guides.
The event runs Aug. 9-15, 2015, and the cost for AARP members is $2,200. Registration deadline is March 30. To register, call 1-877-926-8300 toll-free and use code NOLSAARP815. Visit bit.ly/NOLSAARP for more information.
