Carson man featured in national AARP ad campaign

Carson City resident Gil Yanuck didn't set out to gain national attention, but he admits it has gone to his head.

Yanuck, 69, is featured in the June 28 issue of Forbes Magazine in an AARP three-page advertorial spread touting that its members are more than retired - they're reinvented.

"Something like this goes to your head because you do volunteer things not expecting anything to come of it, then out of the blue sky, this happens," Yanuck said.

"Gil has been an invaluable asset to AARP in Carson City," said Deborah Jaquith, director of communications for AARP's Nevada office. "He has opened doors to groups for which we previously had little access."

Yanuck is featured in AARP's advertising campaign because of his service and all the ways he has given back to his community through the AARP Tax-Aide program, Jaquith said.

Yanuck said he volunteers as the Northern Nevada director of the AARP Foundation tax-aide program, a free tax preparation service with sites in 17 communities.

He also serves as the AARP representative on the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, and on a number of local boards such as the Governor's Conservation Team to protect Nevada's sage grouse, the Nevada Wildlife Commission and the Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare Board.

Yanuck first caught the eye of AARP in 2006 when he was nominated for one of then-Gov. Kenny Guinn's Points of Light awards. In 2007, he received the President's Volunteer Service Award, and in 2009, AARP's Nevada State Office awarded him the Andrus Award for Community Service, their most prestigious and visible volunteer award, Jaquith said.

Forbes Magazine quotes Yanuck sharing his philosophy on volunteering.

"Yanuck recalls his own 18-hour days in the aerospace business when he addresses executives who say they'll wait until they retire to volunteer: 'Look at the groups you already support financially. Then ask whether there is an opportunity for them to improve their operations. The best way you can help them do that is as an active volunteer,'" the advertorial writes.

Yanuck said the publicity has been a lot of fun.

"They took 3,200 pictures of me in six changes of clothes," he said, laughing, "but I've been getting calls from all over from people I haven't heard from in more than 20 years."

A one-page ad featuring Yanuck also will be in the July and August editions of the Atlantic Monthly, the August Reader's Digest and the September Smithsonian.