AARP MAINE ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF Beacon Community, Steadfast Advocate and Champion in Aging Awards

AARP MAINE ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF BEACON COMMUNITY, STEADFAST ADVOCATE and CHAMPION IN AGING AWARDS

AARP Maine Recognizes Organizational and Individual Excellence in Serving Older Adults


PORTLAND: AARP Maine is thrilled to recognize a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities as the winner of the AARP Maine Beacon Community Award, an AARP Maine volunteer as the winner of the AARP Maine Steadfast Advocate Award, and a Blue Hill non-profit for the inaugural AARP Maine Champion in Aging Award for 2024.

Since 2021, AARP Maine has identified an age-friendly community in Maine to recognize and celebrate each year with its Beacon Community Award. This year’s winner is Age-Friendly South Portland, a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities (NAFSC) since 2019.

“Age-Friendly South Portland is the epitome of what it means to be a collaborative, engaging, action-oriented community that focuses on helping older adults live, and thrive, in place,” said Noël Bonam, AARP Maine State Director. “It is exciting to see that in a relatively short amount of time this remarkable community has made such strides on behalf of older community residents. We are delighted to present this award to them in recognition of their accomplishments.”

As Co-Chair of Age-Friendly South Portland, Lisa Joyce accepted the award and said, “Age- Friendly South Portland is honored to receive the Beacon Community Award from AARP Maine, and for all the support they have provided to us over the years to help support the older adult population of South Portland.”

AARP Maine’s Steadfast Advocate Award celebrates an individual volunteer’s countless and unending efforts to support the AARP Maine mission. Said Bonam: “Jessica Simpson of Cape Elizabeth is a longtime AARP Maine Advocacy Volunteer who has continually demonstrated her steadfast commitment to the betterment of the lives of older Mainers. We are delighted to present her with this year’s AARP Maine Steadfast Advocate Award.” 

“I am so grateful to AARP Maine for the honor of receiving the Steadfast Advocate Award for 2024,” said Jessica. “AARP Maine has afforded me the opportunity to advocate on issues that are personally meaningful and make a real difference to my fellow Mainers, especially the most vulnerable. Be it protecting Social Security, advocating for affordable housing, expanding access to health care, working for broadband and digital equity, fighting for lower utility costs, strengthening retirement security, and educating my local community about frauds and scams; it all has given me purpose, fulfillment and happiness. I am deeply honored!”

A third award, the Champion in Aging Award, was introduced for the first time in 2024 and goes to a Maine non-profit which has advanced an activity or initiative for at least two years that is specific to older adults and consistent with AARP’s mission. The winner of this inaugural award is Healthy Peninsula in Blue Hill.

“Healthy Peninsula has initiated meaningful and broad-based programs that benefit local residents for the long-term,” said Bonam. “Their Bridging Neighbors program, for example, is an innovative service that directly addresses the health equity barriers identified in community assessments. This program addresses challenges of particular concern to rural areas with a replicable, affordable model of intervention. They embrace AARP’s mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age, and AARP Maine is thrilled to present our very first Champion in Aging Award to this most-deserving organization.”

“Healthy Peninsula is thrilled to be recognized by AARP Maine for our work with older Mainers here on the Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Isle/Stonington,” said Anne Schroth, Executive Director. “At a time when healthcare and community-based resources are becoming harder to navigate, we are proud to work with our many age-friendly community partners to address barriers to healthy aging with creative, collaborative programs and services.”

AARP Maine celebrated all three honorees at its Annual Meeting held on October 29th in Bangor.

To learn more about AARP and our work in Maine, visit www.aarp.org/me and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @aarpmaine. For more information about volunteering with AARP Maine, click here.