Need to Know
Aging is unfolding unequally
According to a recent New York Times article, retirement is one of the largest and fastest growing forces in the economy. (7 Numbers Shaping Retirement in 2026)
While savings have hit record levels, rising health care costs and growing poverty make retirement unaffordable for many. According to sources such as the National Council Aging, 80 percent of older households don’t have the financial resources to weather major financial shocks such as widowhood, serious illness, or the need for long-term care.
$10,650 a month was the average cost of a private nursing home room in 2024. Per month, assisted living care averaged $5,900 and a full-time home health aide was $6,500.
In addition, Medicare costs are also rising sharply. The standard Part B Premium is $202.90 per month this year – up nearly 10 percent and 66 percent higher than 10 years ago. Medicare trustees project $218.60 in 2027 and nearly $350 by 2034. Premiums are rising faster than income.
On the other hand, $48.5 Trillion was invested in retirement accounts, pensions, 401ks, and annuities, double the amount a decade ago. But half of the private work force doesn’t have access to a workplace retirement plan because they work for small employers.
Forty percent of Social Security recipients continue to work for several years after claiming benefits, some because they must and others because they want to. Meanwhile, early retirees are facing $11,000 more in annual insurance premiums as the ACA subsidies expire.
The poverty rate among older Americans is rising with 15 percent living in poverty, up from 10.7 percent in 2021.
Free medical supplies and equipment
There’s a new nonprofit serving Athens and surrounding areas that connects people in need with the medical supplies that support daily living. From walkers and wheelchairs to hygiene and safety items, it’s all free from Silver Lace, Inc.
Inventory depends on donations but typically includes mobility aids, bathroom safety equipment, incontinence supplies and basic health management items. There’s no insurance paperwork or red tape. Whether a short-term or ongoing need, the organization tries to match individuals with the right items either through phone contact (706-363-8453), email (info@silverlaceinc.org) or a request form online.
Donations of mobility aids, hygiene products and daily living equipment are welcome, as well as financial donations. Forms are at the website.
Outliving driving ability
It’s estimated that, on average, older adults will outlive their riving ability by 11 years for women and six years for men, according to the Georgia Health Policy Center and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Thirty-eight percent of adults over age 70 are no longer driving in Georgia. While Georgia provides services to older adults with transportation needs, there is a growing number of people on the wait list for this service.
Good to Know
Places in Peril
Historic Athens released its 2025 Athens Places in Peril list in December, highlighting five historic resources that face uncertain futures due to changing development patterns, deferred maintenance, or the absence of clear preservation planning.
Established in 2019, the Athens Places in Peril initiative identifies at-risk sites that meet three criteria: eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, a current threat to their integrity, and documented grassroots support for preservation.
The 2025 inductees are:
Hoyt House – East Dougherty Street
One of Athens’ oldest surviving homes, traditionally associated with early nineteenth-century settlement and later with Rev. Nathan Hoyt of First Presbyterian Church. The structure was moved during mid-century urban renewal and now sits within an active redevelopment zone in North Downtown Athens. Its future setting and use require coordinated planning as major projects advance in the area.
Barber Street School / North Athens School – Barber Street
A significant surviving resource from the era of segregated education for African American students. The building remained in use for many years after integration, most recently as office space for the Clarke County School District but is now vacant and deteriorating. Industrial activity surrounding the site has accelerated its decline, which highlights the need for a clear preservation plan for one of the last remaining mid-century African American school buildings in Athens.
Coke–Talmadge House – 1275 Prince Avenue
A prominent Neoclassical residence connected to the Talmadge family and to the early twentieth-century development of Prince Avenue as a grand residential corridor. Continued medical-campus expansion in the area places the structure at a decision point regarding long-term use and preservation.
Westclox / General Time Plant – 100 Newton Bridge Road
The 1954 industrial complex once produced Westclox timepieces and later housed a variety of adaptive reuses. Current redevelopment concepts contemplate demolition of the historic factory buildings, prompting the need for a clear evaluation of adaptive reuse potential and opportunities to retain industrial heritage on the site.
Original University Botanical Garden Block – Broad, Pope, Reese, and Finley Streets
This multi-layered landscape contains the site of the 1830s University of Georgia botanical garden, portions of the post-Emancipation Knox Institute campus, and a remaining creek corridor adjacent to the Reese Street Historic District. Redevelopment pressure on the block underscores the importance of preserving existing greenspace and planning for the landscape’s historic and visual role at a key neighborhood gateway.
Historic Athens will circulate research materials, hold community input opportunities, and work with property owners, neighborhood groups, and local partners to explore appropriate next steps for each listed site. The organization will also maintain public updates through its website and programs. A full archive of listed sites is available at historicathens.com/placesinperil.
AHS releases film on child labor in Athens mills
The Athens Historical Society has released its newest film that explores Athens’ industrial past. “Industrial Athens Part 2: The Struggle to End Child Labor can be viewed at the AHS website athenshistorical.org.
The Athens Film Project’s goal is to create films on Athens’s history for local 11th grade U.S. History and 8th grade Georgia History classes. UGA’s department of history, ACC teachers, local donors, and various grants have enabled the project.
Fun to Do
Shacks, Stories and Spirit
African American artist Beverly Buchanan (1940 – 2015) who lived in Athens from 1987 to 2010 will be the subject of joint exhibitions at The Atheneum and the Georgia Museum of Art.
“Shacks, Stories and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home” is on view at the Georgia Museum through June 28. “Beverly’s Athens” will be on view at the Athenaeum, 287 West Broad St., the university’s non-collecting contemporary art venue, affiliated with its Lamar Dodd School of Art, Jan. 16 to March 21.
“Beverly’s Athens,” focuses on the local and lived conditions that shaped her work in Athens. It emphasizes her modes of surviving chronic illness in the absence of an equitable healthcare system, and her multidisciplinary efforts to study and commemorate Black southern geography, traditions and forms.
Buchanan’s work is in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the High Museum.
Photographs featuring John Lennon
May Pang, John Lennon’s companion & lover during his “Lost Weekend” era will showcase her candid photos of the famous Beatle at a special three-day, free exhibition at the Winterville Cultural Center in Winterville, Friday, Feb. 20 -22.
The exhibition coincides with the digital release of the feature film documentary on Lennon and Pang “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story.” Ms. Pang will appear at the show throughout the weekend. Admission is free. All works will be available for purchase.
Exhibit highlights bridal designer
The UGA Special Collections Library is opening a new exhibit featuring 30 bridal gowns and accessories from the Anne Barge brand as well as early sketches, photographs, and documents that tell the story of the Cordele-born designer’s contributions to the fashion industry. “Fashion and the Classic Bride: The Life and Career of Anne Barge,” will run from January to July.
Swing Your Partner
The Classic City Squares dance club invites everyone age 12 to 99 to try square dancing. It’s fun, good exercise and improves brain health. No partner or experience needed. Dances are held at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 780 Timothy Road. The next one is Sunday, Feb. 1, 2 – 3:30 p.m. Want some lessons? Those begin Thursday, Feb. 2, 2 to 4 p.m. also at UU. $5 per lesson.
For more information, contact Bob Woodall, Email: 1fjsailor@gmail.com. Text: 727-457-7158. The club is not affiliated with the UU Fellowship.
Classical music in a community space
Classical Revolution is a grassroots chamber music movement founded in 2006 in San Francisco with the goal to bring classical music out of the concert hall and into accessible, community-centered spaces.
Classical Revolution Athens was established in 2015 and partners with Hendershot’s Coffee & Café to host monthly open-mic style performances the first Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m., offering a welcoming stage for musicians of all levels, from students and emerging artists to seasoned professionals.
Cookbooks as history
When we pick up an old cookbook, there are clues to be found about what the kitchens of the past looked like and the lives of the people who cooked in them. In the presentation, “How to read a cookbook like a historian,” author of multiple food history books Valerie Frey will lead an exploration of recipes with a historian’s eye on Sunday, Feb. 22 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Athens-Clarke County Library.
Learn stock trading or tai chi
The Winterville Cultural Center has a full calendar of events and classes for the winter, ranging from a six-week course on stock trading, to yoga, tai chi, painting or sketching. Call 706-742-0823 or go to wintervillecenter.com.
OCAF’s newest exhibitions
The Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation will open the new year with two new exhibitions: “A Way Among Ways” debuts with new contributions from local artists. “This Beautiful Tangle” in the Members Gallery features paintings, drawings, prints and handmade paper works. Both exhibits run from Jan. 16 to March 7.
Home & Family: A Printmaking Exhibit
In celebration of Black History Month, the Taylor-Grady House opens a new exhibition of printmaking works by invited artist Jamaal Barber, UGA’s Black Artist Alliance and Printmaking Student Association in the Lamar Dodd School of Art. The opening reception is Friday, Feb. 6 from 5:30 to 8 p.m., while the exhibit will run through Feb. 27.
Tour of Athens Gardens
The 2026 Tour of Gardens sponsored by the Piedmont Gardeners on April 18 will feature four multi-acre gardens with walking trails, fanciful art, and a wide variety of flowers, shrubs and trees. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.
Highlights include:
- A five-acre garden with a children’s playground, a secret garden, a water garden, fountain and small courtyard, all set in a landscape of perennials.
- Another garden has a collection of more than 40 camellias and 25 Japanese maples.
- A two-acre garden displays the collection of its plant biologist creator, who has searched for unusual plants that thrive in shade.
- Look for three-dimensional art in another garden as well as the artist-owner’s studio and bird houses throughout an array of sun-loving plants.
Tour proceeds benefit the Piedmont Gardeners Scholarship fund at The University of Georgia for Horticulture and Landscape Architecture students. Go to piedmontgardeners.org for ticket information.
