Originally from Taiwan, Anli Vokrot moved to Marlboro, Massachusetts in 1982 with her husband, where she raised her son Peter, now 45, before spending years working in the food service industry she loved. After stints at Papa Gino’s and Boston Market, a move to Florida, and a return to Massachusetts in 2019, Anli settled in Somerville. In 2023, she found her next calling: advocating for seniors through the Massachusetts Senior Action Council. In just a short time, she has become one of the chapter’s most dedicated members and now serves as Vice President of the Cambridge/Somerville Chapter.
About three years ago, Mary Napolitano and MSAC organizer Jake came to do an outreach at her building and that was the moment everything clicked. Hearing Mary, another senior, speak directly to the residents made a powerful impression. What excited Anli most was the idea of being able to speak up and knowing that seniors could come together, build power, and truly have a say in the issues affecting their lives. “I was very excited,” she recalls. “I wanted to learn how to share my voice.”
Anli loves that MSAC fights for what seniors need and never stops speaking up. One win that hits close to home is the fight for the Medicare Savings Program (MSP), which is a big deal to Anli. She saves over $200 a month through the program, money she puts directly toward groceries. She also appreciates the win on The RIDE, where fares were cut in half, bringing a round trip down to just $3.50. Beyond the policy victories, Anli genuinely enjoys the MSAC staff and the tools they bring like assisting members with scheduling outreaches, explaining healthcare to seniors in depth, and providing tools so seniors can work on issues, “Helping the quality of life of seniors is important to me,” she says.
Before joining MSAC, Anli had already started putting herself out there. She helped with organizing community meetings in her Cobble Hill neighborhood to push back against development that would have used their only green space. Now, Anli makes it a point to speak with those same connections to share MSAC’s work and the MSP benefits she relies on, believing that everyone deserves access to that information. For Anli, outreach is about more than just recruitment. Whether five people show up or ten, every senior who becomes educated has the power to pass that knowledge on to someone else in their community. “Each time, you’re giving a senior the chance to share and help others,” she says.
Anli’s involvement with MSAC runs deep. As Vice President of the Cambridge/Somerville Chapter, she attends the monthly board and chapter meetings and serves on subcommittees, and helped to organize outreaches in her own building, where the turnout was remarkable; the response was proof of just how much interest exists among seniors who need and want information. Her commitment goes beyond her own chapter area, as Anli has volunteered at MSAC’s Metro North Chapter events including tabling, outreaches, and information sessions to share her story and help recruit more seniors to MSAC. Whether at an outreach or an action at the State House, you will find Anli proudly wearing her MSAC blue shirt standing shoulder to shoulder with other MSAC activists.
Anli’s message is simple and powerful: seniors need to speak up, and MSAC gives them the tools to do exactly that, “It’s very powerful how many seniors we have who are so passionate about local issues,” she says. “We can all share our knowledge and share our ideas. Together, we build people power.”