That AFDICA member Lewis Hunter struck up a conversation with a stranger at medical imaging facility was no surprise. Neither was it that Lewis had the presence of mind to suggest to the acquaintance that the AFDICA offered a financial literacy course well suited for the older adult programs offered to the man’s church, the First Baptist Church (FBC) in Allen TX. After a visit to the church and one of the associate pastor’s, the evening of February 6^th was set to conduct the session, which Lewis presented. There were 26 participants, and AFDICA members Faye Moritz, Andy Basel and Scott Taylor also attended. Each attendee was provided a participant guide which they can (and usually do) take with them, and an AFDICA pen, both items are popular (and money well spent for the pens by the AFDICA!)

The DFW AFDICA Money Smart volunteers continue to learn how to “market” the Money Smart programs for Older Adults (MSOA), as well as modify content to suit the venue. In the case of FBC, Lewis and Scott modified the content down to a 90-minute presentation, which extended to a one hour 45 minutes presentation with discussion included. After each session, evaluations are completed and “graded” to track how both content and the presentation are received by the participants. Even with the reduced content and timeline, we achieved a score of 95 in response to the primary evaluation question as to the quality of the presentation, with 80%+ participants rating it “Very Good” or “Excellent, “ a worthwhile outcome. As is our custom, a follow up email was sent to FBC summarizing the results, thanking them, and indicating we are available for future events.

The events are also invariably informative to members and presenters based on participant questions, such as “I was told I could not deal with the Social Security with a Power of Attorney for my…,” or is ‘LifeLock worth the expense,” or “Is there a need for a Power of Attorney to be recorded?” Naturally, our response is that we don’t, can’t and will not give legal advice, but being conversant in topics raised is useful for future sessions.

The learning process also has some hard realities. Previously on December 11^, 2019 DFW AFDICA conducted a MSOA session which had been scheduled for some months prior and confirmed the week before. The session was conducted in a senior center in a Dallas suburb. Attending AFDICA members included Lewis, Andy, Scott and Harral Scott, Mike Lauer, and Dan Walker. The group was told that 10 participants had signed up, but as the time approached and as it turned out, they had but one participant, Walter, who was just a walk-on. The training went forward about an hour, with much engaging discussion with Walter and AFDICA members, and Walter left, with the MSOA participant guide he was provided He was gracious on leaving and thankful to the members. There was another worthwhile outcome however, as the group spent the following hour discussing how we might further MSOA, or other financial literacy programs. A thank you note was sent to the host organization, also indicating we are available for future events. And as to Walter, there is inspiration to be found from Mother Teresa, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one".