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AARP Grants Fund Community Improvements Across Missouri

Projects include a focus on public spaces, accessibility and transportation

Stacey Shepard,

AARP

Published November 01, 2026

a man in a wheelchair and his friend walking alongside in a park

Getty Images

While visiting his son in Utah last year, Rob Weagley became intrigued by a collection of oversized, outdoor musical instruments in a local park.

Weagley, his son and granddaughter banged on the drums and rang the chimes. Then Weagley watched as other people of all ages stopped to play.

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“This is really cool,” Weagley, 74, recalls thinking. “That’s how people meet each other, and that’s what community is about.”

He returned home to Liberty, Missouri, near Kansas City, determined to recreate the experience in the city where he and his partner, Carol Brock, 73, grew up and now reside. That idea is now Symphony in the Park, a new amenity at Westboro/Canterbury Park and Greenway. It’s funded by a $13,000 AARP Community Challenge grant and about $50,000 in other private donations.

AARP Community Challenge grants fund local projects that boost livability, such as new public spaces, sidewalk repairs, home safety modifications and accessible seating in parks. This year, 10 Missouri communities received grants, totaling $121,772.

In Liberty, the outdoor instruments — including drums, chimes, a xylophone-like apparatus and colorful musical flowers — will be arranged in a semicircle along an existing paved trail, with three bench swings nearby.

Erika Brant, community engagement manager for Liberty Parks and Recreation, says the project fits with the city’s efforts to make Liberty a great place to grow old. The city prioritizes providing services, such as meals and transportation, to older residents and participates in the Mid-America Regional Council’s Communities for All Ages program.

“We don’t have anything like this in Liberty, so I think it’s going to be super cool,” Brant says.

For Weagley and Brock, the project is about more than making music. The couple attended high school together in Liberty and went on to marry other people. About 14 years ago, they reconnected and later moved back to Liberty. Both played instruments in the high school band, and they share a lifelong passion for music and the arts. The new space will be dedicated to local music and arts educators.

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Community Gardeners Cultivate Year-Round Harvest

In St. Louis, another AARP Community Challenge grant will make a community garden more accessible for older adults.

The Caribbean Association of St. Louis received $8,000 to repair and raise wooden garden beds. The nonprofit has been gardening in St. Louis for about a decade, growing vegetables and herbs used in Caribbean cooking, says Herman Horsford, 65, the association’s president.

“We get down and dirty,” says the native of Grenada, describing how members grow produce year-round.

The garden cycles through lettuce, Swiss chard and other cool‑weather crops in spring and fall; fills up with tomatoes, melons, bell peppers and okra in summer; and houses garlic and onions in the ground during winter. A favorite from the garden is big thyme, a strongly flavored herb used in Caribbean cooking that Horsford says can be difficult to find in St. Louis.

Members eat some of the harvest, and the organization also donates to local food pantries. But anyone in St. Louis can taste the food inspired by the garden at the Festival of Nations. The association has served up jerk chicken and other specialties for the past 17 years at the annual event.

Other Missouri grant recipients include:

West Plains Public Library ($10,000) to install a permanent StoryWalk along a park path, providing a way for people of all ages to stay active outdoors.
Missouri Ozarks Community Action Inc. ($15,000) to equip volunteer drivers serving rural counties with updated tablets, safety equipment and communication tools to improve the reliability and safety of rides that help older adults get to medical appointments and other services.
City of Knob Noster ($15,000) to construct a new shaded pocket park downtown with accessible paths and seating for residents to rest, gather and navigate to nearby destinations.

AARP will begin accepting applications for 2027 AARP Community Challenge grants in January. Learn more at aarp.org/communitychallenge.

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Stacey Shepard writes about health care, the environment, livability, fraud and other issues. She has written for the Bulletin since 2024.

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