Grayson County, VA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Addressing community health

Description: Many residents of rural Grayson County lack internet access. To help them get information about the COVID-19 pandemic, Grayson County set up a phone hotline staffed by older adult volunteers. The service helped callers find out how to apply for financial assistance, where to find face masks or how to get help acquiring food or medicine. The County Emergency Services Coordinator trained the volunteers, ensuring they had accurate information during the pandemic's onset. Project organizers made sure the service was available 24 hours a day, with three shifts of volunteers available for calls and software to manage phone queues. The initiative's success spurred the Emergency Services Coordinator to commit funding to continue the helpline for future emergency situations.

Mount Zion, GA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Addressing community health

Description: This city will construct two blessing boxes, which will offer residents access to free, non-perishable foods, basic toiletries and pet food. The boxes will be located near Mount Zion's senior center and the local library.

Hayfork, CA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Addressing community health

Description: Thanks to new hygiene solutions -- including touchless water faucets and soap dispensers plexiglass dividers to protect staff and a touchless thermometer -- Hayfork was able to open its pool for the 2020 swim season despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the improvements, county public health mandates would have shuttered the pool, which is a multi-generational gathering place. Project organizers say the safety measures represented the community's high standard for pandemic response. Most of the hygiene measures remained in place at the pool for subsequent summers.