Following a SCSEP placement at the St. Michael's Day Care Center, Ms. Mazander was hired for 20 hours per week to assist in the day care's kitchen.

Many participants in the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) first find the program in their early retirement age years: mid-50s, 60s and maybe even 70s.

Not Mildred Mazander. At age 93, she came to the program looking for a way to increase her income after her car insurance rate increased, due not to her age but instead due to the purchase of a newer car. Mazander previously waited tables for 23 years, but her work was often seasonal and she needed something else to make ends meet. In 2002, at age 93, she saw an advertisement for the program on television and turned to the Hot Springs, Ark., AARP/SCSEP Project Office for help.

Mazander worked with Project Director Robert Kness to identify an appropriate placement, telling him that she could "do almost anything." Kness placed Mazander at the St. Michael's Day Care Center in Hot Springs, where she worked 20 hours a week, preparing salads, serving beverages and clearing and washing dishes for the children at the center. After lunch, she watched over the three-year-olds during their naptime.

In 2005, new income guidelines declared Mazander ineligible for the SCSEP program. Still eager to work even as she approached centurion status, Mazander was hired by the day care center after they learned of her program ineligibility.

"Mildred sets a fine example, is a good overall worker, is conscientious, is anxious to please and do a good job in whatever she is doing," said Mary Thomas, Mazander's supervisor at the day care center.

Mazander is in exceptional health for someone living in her ninth decade. She is mobile and often drives by herself to visit relatives in New Orleans, an eight-hour drive.

Starting in late January, she will take on a second job, bringing her total work hours throughout the week to 32 hours across all seven days. When she isn't working with children, who are just a fraction of her age, during the week at the day care center, she will be spending weekends working six-hour days at the Oaklawn Jockey Club Track Kitchen.

Ms. Mazander also watches over the children at naptime at the St. Michael's Day Care Center in Hot Springs, AR.

"There are some people who are 40 years younger who don't work and don't want to work," said Kness. "This is a tremendous success story for the AARP/SCSEP program. Mildred is an inspiration to us all."

About The AARP Foundation
The AARP Foundation, AARP's affiliated charity, is a national grantee of the U.S. Department of Labor's Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). The foundation has SCSEP sites in nearly 100 locations in 28 states and Puerto Rico.

In addition to the SCSEP program, the foundation provides services for people 50 and older such as complimentary tax preparation for low- and moderate-income individuals and legal support. Foundation programs are funded by grants, tax-deductible contributions and AARP.

For more information, visit www.aarp.org/foundation.