Pat Jones

“It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live;” wise words from the founder of AARP, Ethel Percy Andrus.

AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond has reiterated the Association’s opposition to including a cut to the benefits of current and future Social Security recipients as part of a year-end budget deal via a formula change known as Chained CPI. She offered the following statement:

Some are considering cramming changes to Medicare and Social Security into a year-end budget deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff." If the Medicare eligibility age goes up to 67, then 9,351, District seniors will be kicked off Medicare. More data at http://www.kff.org/medicare/med032911nr.cfm. Private insurance will cost them $2,200 a year more, and all Medicare beneficiaries' premiums will increase if the youngest and healthiest beneficiaries are dropped from the program.

Join AARP for a free screening of the award-winning documentary, Age of Champions, about inspiring, older athletes who compete for gold at the National Senior Olympics, such as the Tatum brothers from DC. Watch the trailer and RSVP for free tickets at www.ageofchampions.org/DC or call 1-877-926-8300.

Join AARP for a free screening of the award-winning documentary, Age of Champions, about inspiring, older athletes who compete for gold at the National Senior Olympics, such as the Tatum brothers from DC. Watch the trailer and RSVP for free tickets at www.ageofchampions.org/DC or call 1-877-926-8300.

The Vida Senior Centers, one of the oldest Latino organizations serving seniors in the District of Columbia, and the AARP District of Columbia State Office celebrated the establishment of Vida’s Multicultural Club, AARP DC’s first “community group, Vida’s Multicultural Club. The club is organized according to a new AARP model which recognizes the dynamics of today’s diverse environment and the desire for a more flexible approach to local gatherings that can be connected to AARP.

According to the DC Department of Health, HIV and AIDS are increasing among older DC residents. In fact, more than one-third of the people living with HIV in DC are age 50+. District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray says that 15 percent of new HIV and AIDS cases in the District are among older adults.

Thanks to the generosity of District of Columbia residents, AARP DC and the Capital Area Food Bank collected more than five tons - that's 10,000 pounds - of food in the 2012 Drive to End Hunger in DC food drive. That means 13,235 meals can be prepared for and by people at risk of hunger. That kind of food assistance is a lifeline to Ms. Bowman, a DC senior who receives food commodities.

District residents promptly recovered from power outages, water and wind damage after super storm Sandy, but our friends, relatives and colleagues in New York, New Jersey and other coastal areas continue waging a much more challenging recovery.

It’s official. District of Columbia Mayor Vincent has committed DC to being one of seven pilot sites in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities. At a news conference on October 3 rd, Mayor Gray announced that becoming an age-friendly city is the first of four goals in the city’s Strategic Plan for Community Living in an Age-Friendly City. The commitment marks the beginning of a multi-year planning and implementation process in the District.