One of the needs identified by the Meade County Extension Homemakers Council related to scams targeting the elderly.  Unfortunately, a couple of members had experiences which resulted in a loss of valuable funds.  To address the issue, the council management and safety chairman worked with the extension family and consumer sciences agent to address to topic.  After discussing various avenues it was determined one of the most accurate ways to educate consumers was to secure a speaker from the state's Attorney General's office.  The FCS agent made the request and AG Brashear as well as personnel from his office came to the county to present information.  The session was advertised in advance to the general public and on a cold wintery day 46 people attended the informative session.  Several participants shared stories of receiving phone calls or home visits from predators and valuable advice was give on their legal rights on dealing with the scams.  The majority of the participants signed up scam alerts while attending the program. AG Brashear also share information on the opioid crisis and offered prescription drug disposal kits which are now available at the extension office.  The kits safely dissolve prescription drugs that are not longer in use, protecting consumers from being potentially target by abusers breaking into home looks for drugs.  

After the session, information on the opioid crisis was mentioned at a county council meeting and a proposal was presented for the council to partner with other community entities to address the issue.  The project was approved by the council and a representative from the CEC is now serving on a community committee.  Current plans of the committee are to present a series of informative sessions to the general public in the fall of 2018.