Megan Walton, CEO of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, says her nonprofit’s work—supporting older adults, adults with disabilities, and caregivers—has pushed her to see aging as a time of connection, skill-building, and community rather than decline.
When Megan Walton talks about her work, she doesn’t start with policy or programs. She starts with the people who make those services real.
Walton. 40. grew up close to all four of her grandparents. remembering weekly visits and what they brought to her family—knowledge. wisdom. and relief for her parents. She also describes how her three young children feel about older adults in their lives: time with her dad. who is taking three courses and stays active in an exercise group. and her mom. whose health issues have been significant through the years. yet who has found purpose and connection in the community. Walton says her mother’s social life never slows down. “She has a different social engagement every other night. ” Walton says. then adds how the routine looks in practice: her mom calling to say she’ll “get back to you later because I’m having dinner with my friends. ” or because she’s “playing Mahjong.”.
Walton’s job is built around that same idea—aging as something lived openly, not endured quietly. She is the CEO of a nonprofit that empowers older adults, adults with disabilities, and their caregivers to live to their fullest potential.
The organization delivers programs, resources, and information so people can age in their own homes and communities. It also helps coordinate adult day programs and Meals on Wheels. Walton says she entered health and human services working for an organization that served kids and families in foster care in Seattle. an experience that stayed with her even after her career turned toward seniors.
She describes her time in that foster care role as a period when the organization grew significantly. giving her space to grow alongside it. Then, in 2019, he and her husband decided to move to Portland, Maine. Walton was hired by the Southern Maine Agency on Aging. an opportunity she says mattered because it challenges misconceptions about the population the agency serves.
“The misconceptions” are not just a matter of attitude, Walton says. She points to a basic reality: it’s not “a them-versus-us situation because we’re all aging and. at some point. everyone will need more support.” Her communities. she adds. were “not built for us to live well into our 70s. 80s. and 90s.” She connects that to the services people need—adequate housing and proper nutrition—alongside the wider systems that affect everyday life.
Walton says her work has shown her that aging touches everything from housing and transportation to healthcare. workforce. and community design. She frames older adults as “a huge asset to society and active contributors. ” and she wants the next generation to learn that “growing old is great. ” not feared.
The nonprofit’s scale—70 staff and 500 volunteers—underscores how much the work depends on community involvement. Walton notes that 80% of the volunteers are over 60 themselves. She pays particular attention to Meals on Wheels volunteers, many of whom are retired. For them. she says. the routes aren’t just tasks—they’re something to look forward to. with relationships and social connection built in.
There’s also a quieter side of the job that Walton returns to again and again: watching older adults learn new skills when they’re given the chance. She tells the story of “one man” who had been married for a long time before entering another relationship. He “never cooked,” she says, but now he is cooking all the time, and has a newfound love of recipes. Walton emphasizes how that shift happens when people stop living inside old assumptions—he had been fed the belief he “hadn’t been a cook” before. but he proved it wrong.
In Walton’s view, stories like that helped change her own attitude toward life and aging. “I’m really looking forward to growing older now,” she says. At 40, she is planning for a future in which she’s still working—maybe not full-time, but staying engaged and giving back even “in my 80s.”
For Walton, the job has made her feel like she isn’t approaching the end of a chapter. “Thanks to my job, I really do feel like I’m at the beginning of my life right now at 40,” she says, as if aging—far from closing doors—opens them.
Megan Walton Southern Maine Agency on Aging Meals on Wheels adult day programs nonprofit leadership older adults Portland Maine caregiving workforce and community design