There's No Aging in Vegas!

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This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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You're listening to there's no aging in Vegas, a one stop shop for all things positive aging in the Vegas valley, and any place within ears reach, This show features topics relevant to adults 50 and over that help them live their lives to the fullest. Listeners will meet a variety of residents who've taken the reins of aging and are willing to share their tips and tools for creating a positive mindset and lifestyle we're starting now.

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Hello and welcome to there is no aging in Vegas. I am your host. Pat landacre, hey, guess what? This is, episode nine. I can't believe it, and I want to thank everybody for your kind words, your support, especially as I continue to shape and grow this show. And I hope what you hear today inspires and motivates you to take the reins of aging, age your way and fully live every moment of every single day. That is my goal with this show. Now I also want to remind you that this show airs every fourth Sunday of the month at 8:30am on 91.5 FM. And of course, it's always available at there's no aging in Vegas, along with some video and visuals so you can see who's participating in the show and a lot of extras as well. Had a great last show. Oh, I want to thank my guest, Maria Moore, State Director of AARP Nevada. It wasn't such an awesome show. You know, she really expressed the importance of voting this November, and what's on the ballot that affects seniors? I mean, it's really important to understand that, because I know here in Nevada Social Security, there's some caregiver legislation going on, and you know, you really want to be aware of all of that. Now, you know me, I don't normally discuss politics, but I do know how important it is to vote. I know sometimes we as seniors, we feel powerless. We feel we don't have a say in how life treats us as we age. But you have to remember, you have one of the most powerful tools to state how you want to age, and that is your vote. So I encourage you, you know, don't be disappointed in what you see, or don't be thinking that you don't have any power in what happens in your life, in terms of, you know how legislation is formed to support you, because you can't complain later. Okay, enough of that soapbox. We have our AARP Nevada segment, and today we have Cindy and Cindy, I know I'm going to mess up your last name, so I'm going to let you say it. Cindy, What's your last name?

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Cindy Derwin durin, okay,

Unknown Speaker 3:29
well, yeah, I would have definitely messed so, so thank you for that, and Cindy, how are you doing today?

Unknown Speaker 3:36
I'm doing terrific. How about yourself? We're

Unknown Speaker 3:39
doing pretty good over here, and so I always get really excited to get information from AARP, because you guys always have something new. And I know after every show, I get at least three emails saying I didn't know AARP did so much. So it's really informing people and letting people know what's going on. But what you do is, what I'm really interested in, is the speaker's bureau. When did you start overseeing that?

Unknown Speaker 4:13
Oh, about a little over a year ago.

Unknown Speaker 4:16
Okay, and so you, what were you doing before that? Did you have another role or just,

Unknown Speaker 4:24
well, I was just doing volunteer events, and then I found out about the speaker Sparrow, and I found that it really was interesting for me, and so I decided to volunteer in that area.

Unknown Speaker 4:37
Yeah, no, I think it's fantastic. I you know, like I said, I'm always interested in that. I've done a lot of talks myself. As a matter of fact, I even really came to get involved with AARP, as I was their keynote speaker last year for up in Reno as well as down here for their volunteer recognition event. And even at that point. And thankfully, I didn't do the talk on AARP and all they do, because I would have not had a clue it was on ETHEL. So the person who started the whole organization, but tell me a little bit about yourself. I know that you were like a pharmacologist,

Unknown Speaker 5:21
pharmacist, pharmacist, I was a director of Pharmacy at Bentley hospital for 10 years here in Las Vegas.

Unknown Speaker 5:29
And were you here at UNLV as well?

Unknown Speaker 5:33
No, I actually did my training in Michigan. Okay, University of Michigan.

Unknown Speaker 5:40
And did you teach over there?

Unknown Speaker 5:42
Yes, um, I, I taught pharmaceutical calculations and pharmacology. What? The heck?

Unknown Speaker 5:51
That's probably why she's like, I'm gonna say it, but she's not gonna understand what it is at all. Well, listen, I know you have a huge background, as so many people that are with AARP have just had huge careers, and it's just amazing that they come over and volunteer and teach what they've learned or what they taught or what they did, you know, to members. And then a lot of them are at UNLV Olli as well, doing that. Do you? I know you go to Olli, don't you? And teach?

Unknown Speaker 6:19
Yes, we do do programs at Olli. Great. Well, that's fantastic. Well, so

Unknown Speaker 6:26
tell me a little bit more about the speakers and what kind of speakers you're looking for.

Unknown Speaker 6:32
Okay, well, let me just tell you a little bit more about the speakers bureau. Okay, it provides educational programs to the community on topics such as fraud, watch basics, six pillars of brain health and social security, just to name a few. Okay? And the talks are presented by volunteers who just enjoy interacting with people and sharing valuable information to their community. They come from, as you mentioned, all walks of life and different careers, but they do have in common that they they like interacting with people and sharing information.

Unknown Speaker 7:10
Yeah, that's, you know, listen people that go through AARP and and get trained in their programs and everything. They really enjoy it, and it's valuable information. Someone I know with the AARP, she's a volunteer. She just got back from Washington, DC, I think going to the fraud conference there,

Unknown Speaker 7:33
yes, because we do present. Like to even FBI home, you know, Homeland Security in those areas so they can understand it from, you know, a different perspective.

Unknown Speaker 7:44
Yeah, no, I think it's great. I think that is a part of that opportunity. When you become a speaker or volunteer or just really getting involved, there's just so many ways for you to express yourself, to do something that you never thought that you'd be doing, I mean, did you ever think you'd be running the speaker's bureau for AARP Nevada?

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Never in 1000 years. That's

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kind of what I thought. Because, you know, I sometimes have to think, when I was standing up there giving a talk, I was like, how did I get here? You know, but we're all in that aging field. We all deal in that. And so I get it, what has been your favorite topic or subject, even when you were not running the program but just being a member and a volunteer, what was your favorite thing,

Unknown Speaker 8:31
the fraud watch basics, because, you know, we all are exposed to scams and that. And I actually got caught in a scam, and so I went to one of the presentations, and I was hooked. It was provided me so much information. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 8:47
yeah, I know the romance ones are interesting.

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It's actually the top one in Las Vegas, believe it or not, the

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romance scam thing. Oh, my God, I can see why. Because, you know, a lot of times, you know, we encounter people. I know in my line of work, I work with a lot of seniors, and I, you know, they'll be talking about something, and it'll kind of just peak, like, Wait a minute. You that shouldn't be happening. You shouldn't be sharing that, or you shouldn't be doing that, and and so I think that's where the value of those come in. And then the romance area. I mean, who would have thought that we even need that? But you really do, because there's a lot of shysters out there. There sure are, yeah, going after our these beautiful older women and men and stuff, you know, but Cindy, listen, we have so much fun over at AARP. I wish I had more time. And if you have another topic that you speak on, I'd love to have you back to talk about it, but for now, how can people reach you and get more information about the speaker's bureau?

Unknown Speaker 9:49
Yes, a couple things. One is, is that they can reach us at NV community, Ed, at AARP, dot. Org, and you can contact us if you're interested in becoming a speaker for the speakers bureau. We'd love to have you. And the other is, any groups in the community that would be interested in taking advantage of these free programs, you can contact us there, and we'll get something arranged with you. Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 10:20
think that's the probably the most valuable information is to let people know that you will send someone out to speak to their group, to hold a program at their place. So, yeah, that's really important information. Well, Cindy, thank you so much. I mean, these things go by so fast. I don't even you know, but I think we got the gist of the information out there, and I look forward to speaking with you again.

Unknown Speaker 10:44
Yes, I'd love to come and talk to you about some of our other topics.

Unknown Speaker 10:47
I will definitely keep that on my list of things to do with AARP, because we're always looking and I know Erin sometimes she probably would love it if we just thought outside the box for her a little bit. She's always setting all this up, but thanks again. Cindy, really appreciate you.

Unknown Speaker 11:06
Okay, thank you.

Unknown Speaker 11:08
Thank you so much. Goodbye, goodbye. You know, AARP just does a ton of stuff. I hope you'll go over there and visit them. If you visit my website, there's a QR code that will actually take you to an event that they might be doing at that moment. It's a new thing that they have, and it's fantastic. So check that out. Hi.

Unknown Speaker 11:31
My name is Carolyn yuha, a member of Olli at UNLV, and I would like to share my Olli experience. When I retired in 2018 I felt like I went from being somebody to being nobody. I also feel in society, the knowledge and experience of retired adults is often overlooked. UNLV Ali members are lifelong learners who have experiences that make us who we are today. Information on Ali membership is available at O, L, L, I dot u, n, l, v.edu,

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now let's get to my guest, the amazing Allison Kasner. She moved to Las Vegas in 1969 she actually attended fourth grade through 12th grade. Here she is a graduate of UNLV, both her bachelor's and her master's degree. It's very interesting story about Allison, how she got into the the career that she was in for many years started with a trip to a school here and where you met your calling, pretty much

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it did. Pat I was a freshman at Valley High School, and my psychology teacher, Clarence Piggott, took us to this brand new special education school up the road, called Helen J Stewart, and I walked in and I was home, and from the time I was 14 until, I would say, until I retired. But actually, my passion still continues to this day. I've been passionate about supporting kids and families of special needs.

Unknown Speaker 13:18
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's so interesting that when you and first of all, I don't even know if I gave you a chance to say Hi everybody, I'm here, because I just kind of started asking you questions. But this is Allison Kasner, and Allison say hi to everybody.

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Hi everybody. Thank you for listening today.

Unknown Speaker 13:36
So yeah, it's really interesting, because you talk about how when you went to that school. You kind of found your calling in life. What did you see there that really affected you?

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You know, I walked in, and the students that were my age walked up to me, and there was just this connection. There was no difference between us. We were just, you know, 1415, year olds going to school, and that's kind of how I've seen my students ever

Unknown Speaker 14:04
What was it about them that got you into the field of special needs? That's, that's kind of what you discovered there, right?

Unknown Speaker 14:10
I did. I just, I just saw this happiness and this willingness and eagerness to learn, and I just wanted to be a part of that and be a part of their lives, as well as their parents lives, to help them be as independent as they possibly could. And that was what I based my whole career on. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 14:29
and I think it's really interesting that, after all was said and done, after you went to college, and you know that you chose to go back there and actually ended up being the principal of that school. How many years later was that?

Unknown Speaker 14:44
Oh my gosh, okay, you're going to make me do math. It was probably close to 25 years later. I was, yeah, freshman in high school, and I went back in 2001 and had the privilege of being the third. Possible at Helen J Stewart until I retired.

Unknown Speaker 15:02
Wow. Is Helen J Stewart still around it? Is

Unknown Speaker 15:05
it? Is it's celebrating its 52nd year now and still serving students with special needs, just different kinds of needs than we had back in the 1970s

Unknown Speaker 15:14
Yeah. Wow. That's just so awesome, I mean, to have gone somewhere and right then you kind of knew that that was your calling. And then, right then you kind of knew I'll be back, in a sense, right? I mean, did you feel that when you were there, like I'm going to be back here someday? Ironically,

Unknown Speaker 15:29
I didn't think I did when I was a teacher, I was on a General Education Campus, rather than a special school. I knew that children, wherever they were educated, was where I wanted to be, but then, yeah, I had the blessing to be able to come back and be principal there. The irony is, is that a friend of mine sent me a picture that I gave to her in high school, one of my senior pictures, and it said on the back, it's inscribed that I will see you back at Helen J I'll be the principal I had not I had no remembrance of doing that, but I actually have the picture in me signing it. Oh, I

Unknown Speaker 16:05
gotta post that up. That's amazing. But anyway, so 26 years with CCSD as a teacher, specialized counselor, district wide administrator, and your last position was course principal and Helen J Stewart. Now you retired in 2006 so pretty early in most careers. I mean, how I

Unknown Speaker 16:30
was young? Yeah, I was young. I started teaching at 20 and bought some service credit in the purse system out here, and I retired at 46 years of age, yeah, with 31 years in the purse system. So had a great opportunity to retire.

Unknown Speaker 16:43
Whatever you just said about the purse system that sounded like it benefited you. Don't be surprised. You get calls. How did you do that in the purse system? My own son, who works at CCSD, might be interested in hearing something about that. But anyway, so you retired in 2006 and your husband, Bob. Bob, Robert Kasner, name on buildings and everything. He's an amazing person. I love Bob to death. But Bob, what was his role here at UNLV?

Unknown Speaker 17:13
He really didn't have a role at UNLV. He worked here for a short time in auditing. Right after he finished his MBA,

Unknown Speaker 17:18
yeah. Okay. And then he took that MBA, and he turned it into some big stuff. And so now you both are retired, we are and you run your Kasner family foundation that you established in 2012 then you created our giving circle, which I'm familiar with, where you do some amazing things. And we're going to talk about that. And, you know, you just kind of, it's full circle. You knew a long time ago that you were going to do something, you're going to continue to give back, and here you're doing it that. And, you know, few people get to kind of outline their life that way. Few people get married to somebody brilliant enough to make it so that you could retire early, really brilliant financial mind there with Bob. So you have it's called our giving circle, right? I do, and it's this wonderful organization that you created. I think you told me you sat around the house for a while, doing what retired people do. And sure, you took some great vacations, and then one day you said, You know what, I have got to fulfill a need in myself to give back. Created the giving circle, found different organizations that you could help move forward through the funding, through your family foundation, but the giving cervical is, for me, especially interesting because you've not just provided a thing for yourself and your husband to do after retirement, but you've brought all these other people in who participate, and now you have two branch offs of the organization, and it's such a great thing for for retired or older adults who really just need to find a way to give back, and you've made it so easy for them, and you give back in all kind of ways too. Just tell me a little bit about that.

Unknown Speaker 19:12
I'd love to I'm so proud of our giving circle. When I retired, I knew rather quickly that I needed to redefine productivity, because I was young, and I love our community, and I real quickly I had, I had a breakfast with one of my teachers that retired, and I said, what do you what are you looking at doing? Because she was a little lost, and she just said, really like to get together some socks and give them to childhaven. And it started out 10 years ago, this November, where I had five ladies come over, I made scones and and coffee, and I just said, Let's get together as retirees, bring as many pairs of socks as you'd like to we can donate. And there was a huge laundry basket full. And I thought, Okay, well, we'll do this a couple more times. So we did. And 10 years later. Now, 10 years later, I have we're giving circle. I call it collective giving, but we have people that will donate one item and people that will donate, you know, 30 items. It's really up to the individual of what they want to donate, and we're able to support what we look for are small, small organizations in town that we can have the biggest impact on. And so whether it's homelessness, it's children, it's children with disabilities, it's veterans, it's the hope scholars at UNLV, we just have a whole variety of organizations and individuals that we can support. And what's come out of this that has made me the happiest is, in addition to supporting those organizations, I have this group of women who have said, you know, I've wanted to be able to do something for our community, but on my own, I don't know how to do it. And so it's not how much each individual donates. It's our collective give, and it's just empowered all of us.

Unknown Speaker 21:01
My name is Melanie. I've been part of the giving circle for nine years now. I've known Allison since high school just a few years back, I very much enjoy giving back to the community and helping find some new groups that maybe could use our help. We've done one of the ones was serving our kids, where they give food to kids that don't have any food on the weekends. I love the hope scholars from UNLV. I'm passionate about the Pet Pet organizations because of my my two babies at home. So it's I've really enjoyed it, and not only that, but meeting new friends over the years, because we all were strangers at one point, and we come and now you recognize people, and you can ask about their families and their husbands and their children, and I just enjoy the whole thing. Hi.

Unknown Speaker 21:51
I'm Andrea, and I've been part of the giving circle for about one year, so not too long. But the reason that I love being part of this is because every little bit counts, and we help smaller organizations that don't have a lot of funding, and when we all come together, even your little bit can add up to a big donation and make a difference for these smaller organizations that are doing great work out In the community,

Unknown Speaker 22:20
yeah. I mean, I know a few of the people in, and you've told me a lot about it, and we're actually going to be filming some things at one of her giving circles, so we'll be able to fill in some of the blanks on that visually, and that will be on the website. But yeah. I mean, you know, you provided people. I think the number one thing people, when it comes to comes to giving is they don't really know how to use their giving dollar. They don't know how to go, where to go, they don't know who to call. They just want a place to do and they want to do it kind of their way, and that's what you allow. Plus child, she'd be serving up some great food over there for her little just join the circle, just so you can eat all her amazing stuff, but you know, I'm just knowing you as a friend and knowing what you do. And you know my heart is all about giving and and things. I've had a couple of nonprofits myself, but just what you're doing is just so interesting. And I'm hoping that people that hear this will say, You know what, I can go do something, right? That's my hope.

Unknown Speaker 23:20
And from our giving circle, we do. You mentioned this the beginning. We we've had two other giving circles. Launch. One are two of our neighbors. They're 12 and 14, and they started our sisterhood Giving Club. And so I've got teenagers that are interested. I've got my former staff from Helen J Stewart, that are starting their own giving circle, so easy to do. It's not tied to money, it's tied to tangible goods, and it just gives so many options and flexibility. Well,

Unknown Speaker 23:49
you know, I remember when you did the boutique over at the senior center on Water Street, the Henderson Senior Center on Water Street, and that was just a big deal to people who needed new socks, new underwear. They could come in and you had all that stuff laid out for them and everything. And I thought that was pretty remarkable. And it's all these little things that happen that people do that make the biggest difference. It's not, I mean, I love American Red Cross and United Way, but it's not what they're it's these little, tiny little sparks of kindness and giving it

Unknown Speaker 24:23
is and just to kind of wrap up, one of the things that Bob and I, with our foundation and with our giving circle, is when we're looking for these smaller organizations, we're able to we're hands on, we're really on the ground, and we get to See the impact. We typically don't do these big financial donations. We know the tangibles. And so you can see how a coat makes a difference to someone.

Unknown Speaker 24:48
I call it seeing your money in action. Yes, you know, because I used to work at a bank, and I oversaw the giving dollar, and it was a lot of money, and people were, you know, and I lived in the community, so as soon as I got that job, I. From everybody I knew, right? And I had to put up some criteria and different things like that. And one of them was, I wanted to come out and see or whoever gave see my money in action, show me something. And so I like the fact that you do go out there, you've even been to what's the name of the one you you help the one that's underground, or something, shine a light. Shine a light. I mean, look that up, people. It's an amazing organization. She's found those nuanced opportunities to give the ones that I never would have known about and you wouldn't known about. But I know we're running out of time Allison, and like I said, we'll be putting up some pictures and videos so you'll be able to see the giving circle and understand better and put up information if you want to start your own. I'm sure Allison would be happy to. I'd love to to help you with that. Allison, as always, love you to death, and you know, just keep up what you're doing. I mean, look, this conversation didn't even hit on 50% of what they her and her husband Bob, actually do, but you get the gist of it, and I know she'll be back, and we'll be doing some other stuff together. Remember, go to the website to see the video on this. Also just on my soapbox, I just want to say that I want everybody to own their age. Age is just a number, and that's true, but it is also something to be celebrated and proud of. So I hate when people tell me, Oh, I don't like to say my age. Age is just a number. Please say your age out loud. That's what empowers us and enforces us and makes people kind of recognize we're here. You know, we're not your grandmama old people. You know what I'm saying, and I meant to say it that way. But anyway, you have to embrace aging openly and gratefully, in my opinion, because I always say, if you can't love aging, how the hell are you gonna love living? So I'm just preaching what I'm teaching people, and I hope to hear I'll be okay. I hope to see you on the next show. Everybody, take care, stay cool, out there and have a good time.

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AARP Nevada supports people in the community and online, advocating to protect Social Security, offering resources for family caregivers and tips to prevent fraud and identity theft. The AARP believes that people should decide how to live as they age, offering programs to keep the mind, body and finances healthy. More about upcoming events at aarp.org/local and the voter guide can be available by texting NV votes, 222777, you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai