Carlsbad Woman's Passion for Helping Elderly, Others Earns Her the 2015 AARP NM Andrus Award

AARP New Mexico is pleased to announce that it has awarded its highest honor, the 2015 AARP New Mexico Andrus Award for Community Service, to Ms. Janell Whitlock of Carlsbad.

The Andrus Award for Community Service is designed to honor volunteers who go above and beyond everyday volunteering activities. It is to honor those who best embody Dr. Ethel Andrus’ spirit of reaching out to help others and embody her motto of “To Serve, Not to be Served”,  the very core of AARP’s social mission.

Volunteering is not something new to Whitlock, who at age 77, belongs to a number of community organizations and has always practiced a life of service.

“I first joined the Association of Business and Professional woman, an organization of woman helping women,” Whitlock said.  “I did a lot of volunteering for them. We’d had projects to help women who were first entering the workforce, starting their careers, or who had been stay at home moms and needed to go to work.”

Being Carlsbad’s municipal judge for 21 and a half years also shaped her views of giving back with an emphasis toward people living in poverty and the senior population.

“I saw so many people living in poverty or the elderly would get a ticket and not understand the legal aspects of it. I wanted to start a non-profit working on these issues with the city of Carlsbad,” Whitlock said.

She now does some of that work through her part-time position with the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, where she is the Director of Retirement Programs. Whitlock oversees Chamber Committees devoted to the nationwide publicizing of Carlsbad’s living advantages for the retired and elderly. Another major area of interest is to help the homeless people in Carlsbad. One cold winter evening, she spearheaded an effort to turn one of the city buildings into a temporary shelter for the homeless.

Whitlock has also volunteered for many organizations including president of the New Mexico Municipal Judges Association; the New Mexico Association of Counties Board of Directors; Vice President of the Carlsbad Medical Center Board of Directors; and president of Carlsbad Altrusa, among others.

She currently serves as a Carlsbad City Councilor, and has done so for six years, and also on the Eddy County Commission for four years.

She was essential in getting Carlsbad designated as an AARP Age Friendly City; the first in New Mexico, which emphasizes putting policies and infrastructure in place so that people can stay engaged in their communities as they age. Getting the designation is just one example of Whitlock’s spirit.

She didn’t wait for someone to approach her about being an Age Friendly City. She just went for it.

After seeing the program on the World Health Organization’s website, Whitlock realized, “Carlsbad had a lot of the things that were required. I contacted Gene Varela, at the New Mexico AARP,” Whitlock said.

“I like to stay involved and I still like helping someone – that’s very important to me,” she said.

In nominating Whitlock for the Andrus Award, Don Dayton, also of Carlsbad, writes, “Janell is particularly inspiring in that she is continually working for the benefit of the community and its residents. This is her fulltime concern. Today, she continues to lead a life of community service, compassion for her fellow man, and quiet helping of those in need. While her love of people and the community make a lasting impression on those who meet her, it is particularly apparent that she can make tough decisions and stand her ground without alienating people.”

Also in the nomination form, Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway, who has worked with Whitlock on many city issues, said he believes she is clearly qualified for the unofficial title of Carlsbad's most beloved citizen. Mayor Janway also stated that Whitlock is "the embodiment of class". She has done a lifetime's worth of good work for the community, for the state's elderly and for NM citizens as a whole."

Whitlock moved to Carlsbad in 1957. She has three daughters that call Carlsbad home, while another daughter lives in Texas and another lives in Albuquerque.