[silverc4s]

As a trusted family member, I have been asked to assist with some investing decisions that I do not feel fully qualified to make. Over the years I have seen a lot of great advice offered here, so I thought I would throw my question out there for all to comment on.
My wife's father died suddenly last week, leaving my 81 year old Mother In law alone for the first time in over 60 years. My wife is staying with her right now, and helping her through the first weeks of this, in the ways that she can.
On thing that has come up is that they have some savings, my Father in Law being very conservative, and far from wealthy, these appear to be mostly in CDs, which, of course earn almost nothing these days. No worries about the loss of your savings, but very small return on your money.
One CD of $20,000 is mature right now, and we have until 4/28 to reinvest in a CD again, or there will be some penalty/ after that, apparently.
I am looking for any alternate ideas for safely investing this money at pretty low risk, but with a better than CD return. Please give me some ideas, I am more than willing to go do research, but I would value some real world experienced opinions from this group that I trust very much.
Thanks in advance, everybody.