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Michelle Cerulli McAdams is a freelance journalist whose AARP bylines include advocacy, fraud protection, caregiving, and public policy coverage, with additional work for AARP Bulletin and major national outlets.
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Social Security is a lifesaver for many, including Deborah Alford, 70, who lives in Cumberland.
When Alford was 12 years old, her father was the victim of vehicular homicide. Shortly after, she and her mother began receiving survivor benefits from the Social Security Administration, which helped them pay rent, buy groceries and make car payments.
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“That Social Security check made all the difference in us being able to survive,” says Alford.
About 375,800 Mainers received payments from the Social Security Administration in December 2024, according to the agency. While retirement gets the most attention, payments are also made to people with disabilities and survivors. Most recipients fell between the ages of 18 and 64, but about 5 percent were children.
This August marks the program’s 91st anniversary, which AARP Maine will be celebrating with ice cream socials and other events across the state. On Friday, Aug. 14, an event will be held at the Frances Perkins Center in Newcastle, honoring Perkins’ lasting legacy as a lead architect of Social Security. Perkins adopted Maine as her home and is buried in Newcastle.
As secretary of labor during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, Perkins led the passage of the Social Security Act, establishing old-age pensions, unemployment insurance and survivor benefits for American workers.
As for Alford, a retired data network engineer, she says she was able to continue drawing Social Security through college. She is not sure she would have been able to go to college were it not for the monthly checks.
“I certainly would not have been able to leave college with no student debt, which is a huge deal,” she says.
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