Lemmon, SD

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: Staff at the Lemmon Public Library saw a need to reduce social isolation in town, particularly among older residents. To address this, they set out to improve the library's public gathering space. Project organizers created a new bakery cafe, purchasing folding tables with stacking chairs, an acrylic pastry cabinet, a cake cover and cupcake display, tablecloths and pump pots for coffee. Since the cafe's opening, the library has used new tables and chairs at hundreds of events and the space has accommodated pop-up shops. The opportunity to bake for the cafe led some residents to launch their own baking businesses and one retired baker was inspired to plan a workshop for women starting businesses. Sparked by the success of the cafe, library staff have since pursued other opportunities to expand community space, including providing library patrons with an outdoor area for reading and gathering.

Oxford, OH

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Supporting family caregivers

Description: Oxford Seniors provides services to older residents, including transportation and meal deliveries and a day service for special-needs older adults unable to stay home by themselves. This project created the Oxford Area Community Resource Directory, a 50-page resource guide for older adults and their families. The guide contains a wide range of information for older residents, from listings for public agencies and health and wellness program to credit counseling, mental health care and home repair services. The organization publicized the guide by sending postcards to 14,000 households and staging a launch event. In 2020, Oxford Seniors and other community groups released an updated version of the guide.

Mount Vernon, ME

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services

Description: To help older adults remain in their homes, the Mount Vernon Community Partnership Coalition created a tool library stocked with home repair and gardening tools. A subsequent grant allowed the tool library to move out of the town office's basement to an adjacent shed for ease of storage and tool accessibility. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the opening of the tool library, but once it did open, the gardening tools proved most popular. The Coalition recently relocated the shed and turned over tool library operations to the local Grange, which focuses on gardening and growing food. Adjacent communities also sought out the Coalition's experience to evaluate opening their own tool library.