AARP Night at the Ballpark is a win for everyone

A picture perfect evening in downtown Lansing -- 75 degrees and a cloudless sky -- provided the backdrop to AARP Night at the Ballgame on June 16.

 About 400 AARP members bought discounted tickets for the minor league contest between the Lansing Lugnuts and the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

 Attendees also enjoyed $1 hot dogs, a group raffle and free inflatable games for the kids.

 Among the fans on hand for the game, sporting a Detroit Tigers ballcap, was Eric Schneidewind, AARP Executive Board Member and President-Elect.

 Volunteers Tom Barnes and John Gilson tossed out first pitches. Andrea Palmer, AARP Michigan Senior Program Associate, sang the National Anthem before the game and Lisa Whitmore Davis, AARP Associate State Director for Multicultural Outreach, belted out "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch.

 Volunteer Gary Umstead starred in a Jumbotron ad promoting volunteer recruitment and Mark Hornbeck, AARP Michigan Associate State Director for Communications, chipped in with a spot on the CARE Act.

 Eight volunteers worked ticket pickup and information tables. Lansing is an AARP community of presence.

 "It was a great night, and yeoman's work by everyone," said Karen Kafantaris, AARP Michigan Associate State Director for Community Outreach, who coordinated the event.

The Lugnuts apparently were inspired by the enthusiastic AARP crowd behind home plate. They socked five homeruns and crushed the Hot Rods, 13-3.