Brenda Siler

Are you close to retirement and exploring new opportunities? Or, are you wondering how you will manage your life once you retire? A growing number of individuals age 50+ are turning to small business ownership. We call them “Encore Entrepreneurs.”

Sharing chapter management tips through guest speakers and training events, keeps AARP DC chapters "on top" of trends that lead to successful chapters. That's what happens when officers from District AARP chapters come together quarterly for half-day training sessions that includes a lot of idea sharing.

AARP DC invites you to see a moving true story about a WWII British Army officer who is tormented as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp. Decades later, Lomax (Colin Firth) and his love interest ( Nicole Kidman) discover that the Japanese interpreter responsible for his treatment is still alive and set to confront him. This is a powerful and inspiring tale of heroism, humanity and the redeeming power of love. Bring your friends for an early evening movie presented by AARP DC and AARP Movies for Grownups® It's FREE!

The leadership for AARP Southwest Waterfront Chapter #4751 has been hard at work designing interesting meeting programs and community service events. Volunteers are the foundation for successful AARP chapters nationwide, especially here in the Washington, DC area. That's why AARP DC salutes the active AARP chapter volunteer leaders throughout the District.

Pepco is providing 2,000 free trees to customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia through the Energy-Saving Trees program. Launched as a pilot initiative in 2011, the Energy-Saving Trees program helps customers conserve energy and reduces household electricity bills through strategic tree planting. Pepco customers can reserve their free trees today at www.arborday.org/pepco or by calling 1-855-670-2771.

Over the years, AARP DC has enjoyed a special relationship with Vida, a center established to meet the needs of the District’s Latino seniors. The center has been a connecting point for two women, Seňoras Carmen Mazariegos and Argelia Molina, who volunteer together on many AARP DC initiatives offered through Vida. We celebrate Women’s History Month and the volunteer spirit of Seňoras Mazariegos and Molina.

About four years ago, AARP DC’s Shepherd Park Chapter #2667 decided it needed to communicate with its members and others in other ways than newsletters, email and telephone tree. Under the guidance of chapter member, Donna Graham, who created the site and is webmaster, Shepherd Park Chapter #2667 has been able to share pictures, newsletters, special events and senior resources.

An invasion on U.S. soil began 50 years ago when four mop-topped young lads from Liverpool landed at JFK International Airport in New York. It was spreading overseas and now America was ready for . . . the Beatles. First stop was “The Ed Sullivan Show,” broadcast live from New York on Sunday night. The audience went wild in those black and white TV days. But their first North American concert was on Feb. 11, 1964, in the nation’s capital at The Washington Coliseum where over 8,000 fans were waiting. The historic night was recreated here in Washington by “Beatlemania Now,” a tribute band that plays, acts and looks like the Beatles.

A documentary that closely examines the African American perspective on a range of LGBT issues was screened during Black History Month at AARP Headquarters. The film "The New Black" was offered jointly by AARP DC, Sage Metro DC and PRiSM, AARP’s LGBT Strategic Engagement Employee Resource Group.

“Son of God,” a major motion picture produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, is based on the highly successful miniseries, “The Bible,” which aired on the History Channel. The miniseries garnered the highest cable television series audience in 2013. AARP offered a February Life Reimagined VIP screening of the movie in Washington, DC.