Who are we?

First and foremost EARN is all of us, the citizens of the United States. Some who have already been touched by the chilling hand of financial elder abuse and exploitation and others who have not but, considering our very vulnerable rapidly aging population, are determined to insure their families and loved ones will never have to experience this tragedy.

We are the people who work hard and have something to leave behind. We live honorable lives, bear the largest tax burden, vote in greater numbers than any other demographic group and most ardently believe that we have EARNED the right to expect those we elect, and who’s wages our tax dollars pay, place our interests and safety before institutions who woo them with lobbyists and financial help for political campaigns. 

Though we are not people who will block the town square or lie down on the courthouse steps our numbers are huge and our voice a deafening roar when we speak together. The EARN website is where we come together, tell our stories, find information on organizations that can help and, most importantly, use our roar to get swift passage of laws and regulations that minimize the possibility of financial elder abuse and exploitation of ourselves and those we love.  WE WILL BE HEARD!

EARN was born out of the sad case of Mercedes Kibbee and her Kibbee Kids project. In an attempt to find resolution to this heartbreaking situation Mercedes’ daughter embarked on a   long and disappointing education on how this country deals with Financial elder abuse and exploitation.  Mercedes’ is a particularly tragic story because it not only involves the betrayal of a frail, and dying woman’s trust in institutions and individuals she had employed to carry out her wishes but because of the cost paid by the ultimate victims of this heinous predatory conduct—generations of very needy children who will now continue to fail in school, experience neglect at home, and go to bed hungry each night without the wonderful Kibbee Kids project Mercedes believed she had left them. It is made even sadder because of the enthusiastic participation in preventing these children from receiving this wonderful legacy by an institution that we Americans have for generations held close to our hearts—the YMCA. The complete story of Mercedes Kibbee and her Kibbee Kids Project can be found, in company with those of her many fellow victims on this website.

EARN is you. It is all of us. Don’t let the next story on the EARN website be yours. Join us in building a single voice too loud to ignore—HELP US ROAR!

(Earn is presently awaiting approval as a 501 (c) (3) organization)