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AARP Maryland Volunteer Spotlight: Dale Marshall
Learn about AARP Maryland's 2026 Andrus Award Honoree.
Nancy Carr for AARP Maryland.
Dale Marshall is AARP Maryland’s 2026 Andrus Award winner, the organization’s highest state volunteer honor. She earned the recognition through years of compassionate, hands-on service—drawing on her own caregiving journey to support older adults, sharing vital information on fraud prevention, Social Security and age-friendly communities, and traveling across Southern Maryland and beyond to ensure rural residents know that AARP is listening and ready to help.
Over the course of a month, Dale Marshall will put hundreds of miles on her SUV to support AARP events in rural southern Maryland. After picking up fraud-prevention fliers in Annapolis, she’ll head to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to talk about caregiving. Then she might go to Frederick to discuss safe-driving tips for seniors.
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Yet if fatigue ever sets in, Marshall will never show it. She exudes a cheery enthusiasm as infectious as her laughter.
“I kill people with kindness,” Marshall said. Yet she also describes herself as a highly efficient, “boots-on-the-ground kind of person.”
Marshall, the Regional Volunteer Coordinator for Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties, is dedicated and passionate. She multitasks effectively, delivering presentations and building relationships with county officials and leaders of veterans groups.
She speaks at community events on topics including fraud prevention, Social Security, and age-friendly communities. Last year, Marshall represented AARP at workshops hosted by the Maryland Department of Transportation, which examined transportation options for seniors in rural areas. For her tireless efforts, Marshall received the 2026 Andrus Award, AARP Volunteer of the Year.
For Marshall, there are no limits when it comes to helping seniors enhance their quality of life.
“When I commit to something, I give my all. I love AARP for the many ways it meets seniors where they are and helps them get what they need.”
Marshall grew up on a farm in Charles County. Her grandfather grew tobacco, and her grandmother was a midwife. There, she learned the value of giving back. As an adult, Marshall volunteered at church events and also engaged in missionary work.
In 2011, she attended an AARP Caregiving event held at a church hall. “I was checking things out when the AARP volunteer at the table asked if I’d like to volunteer.”
Marshall was impressed by AARP’s resources, but it was the volunteers’ kindness that touched her. “Sometimes you go to community events, and the people at the tables seem like they can’t wait to leave, like they don’t want to be there. The AARP volunteers were different. I felt they were listening to me. Those volunteers showed me that they really care.”
A year after Marshall began volunteering with AARP, her mother, Gloria, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 61. Marshall’s Aunt Alma—two years younger than Gloria—had been severely brain-damaged since childhood. Marshall suddenly became a caregiver for both her mother and her Aunt Alma.
"All the basic care and the legal and financial decisions for my mom and Aunt Alma fell to me."
While caring for her mom and aunt, Marshall continued working as a contractor, reviewing data to protect patients' medical information for major health care organizations, including Kaiser Permanente. Soon, she had to leave her job to care for her mom and aunt. She used her savings to cover caregiving expenses.
Her mom, Gloria, died in 2012, and Aunt Alma died in 2014.
Marshall shares her powerful experience at AARP Caregiving events. When it comes to connecting with the public, she takes a common-sense approach. At these events, people often ask, “What is AARP doing about prescription drug costs?” She responds by engaging them. “I talk with people to let them know that I care, that someone cares.”
Marshall said she has met seniors who feel that community meetings are a waste of time. “They say, ‘Why should I go? They don’t listen to us.’”
Her response is direct. “I tell them that we have to fight back.” Sometimes, Marshall said, she helps wary seniors overcome their apathy. “I try to convince them to get out of negative thinking.”
Marshall reminds seniors that their voices matter. “I’m in a rural area. People must choose between getting their medications and going to the food bank. This is the reality of our lives now. Sometimes, seniors feel there is no hope for them and that no one is listening. I do my best to let them know that AARP is listening.”
At community events, a couple in their 40s may wander over to the AARP table, accompanied by a parent, with a bone to pick. Marshall listens. “They complain, ‘I’m only 45, and I’m already getting mail from AARP. I don’t need that.’”
“And I tell them, 'I get it. I was like that when I was younger. I didn’t want to hear from AARP.’” Then Marshall adds some humor. “I say, ‘You want to take my AARP flashlight, but you don’t want to sign up?’”
It always works, she says. “Later at the event, that same person might walk by my table, wave the AARP flashlight, and laugh.”
Marshall says her goal is to give people something to think about, as it did for her at the AARP table in 2011.
“When they walk away from me, I want them to say, ‘Wow, that AARP lady cares. She really listened.’”
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