Make Your Voice Heard

Where do you turn as an older worker when you’ve been laid off and need to sign up for Medicare and start receiving your Social Security?

Where do you turn for respite assistance when you’re exhausted from caring for a family member who suffers from dementia, or need help coordinating home care instead of moving your loved one to a nursing home?

Many of you turn to us. However, federal funding for the critical assistance our nonprofit agency provides to thousands of older Vermonters and their families is in jeopardy—and we need your help.

We receive more than 30% of our funding from the federal Older Americans Act. But there is talk about potential cuts amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars nationally including Medicaid home- and community-based services.

Negotiations on the next federal budget are also targeting programs such as Medicare enrollment assistance, low-income heating subsidies, 3Squares/SNAP food stamps, and AmeriCorps programs including Senior Companions and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

The time is now to let our federal representatives know how crucial these services are—and to insist that funding levels for these programs cannot be reduced. These deep cuts would result in significant hardship for families across Vermont.

Please join me in contacting Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Peter Welch, and Representative Becca Balint to plead our case and ensure that no older Vermonter is left behind as Congress debates legislation that impacts this significant constituency.

Older Vermonters are increasingly the face of our communities, and it is imperative that we pay attention to what the future holds for them. And, for all of us.