Volunteering

By Hayley Hervieux

Meet AARP Texas’ Latest Andrus Award Winner

By Hayley Hervieux

By Hayley Hervieux, AARP

We've just finished up with the biggest volunteer season of the year. Over Thanksgiving and Christmas, we collect blankets and coats, help out at soup kitchens, and give to our favorite charities. What happens when those holidays are over?

Adapted by Hayley Hervieux, AARP Texas

By Yolanda Brown

Forget six degrees of separation. When it comes to new AARP Texas President Olivia “Ollie” Besteiro, it seems like everyone is connected with her in some fashion.

With hard work and determination. Alexandra Rose, 76, an AARP Texas volunteer residing in Midland who is a regular guest columnist for the Midland Reporter-Telegram, will lace up her shoes and compete in the 13.1 mile 3M Half-Marathon in Austin on January 24. She plans to run-walk the event in just a little over three hours. Although she wakes up at 4:30 a.m. daily to walk four miles, marathons and half-marathons are not only a passion for Alex but actually fun. She’s competed in the past in the Boston Marathon, the New York Marathon, the White Rock Marathon (Dallas), the Cowtown Martahon (Fort Worth) and the Duke City Marathon (Albuquerque). She’s done her share of half-marathons and 10 Ks. Her brother, who lives in Boston and has been a Boston Marathon qualifier in the past, will be joining her in Austin for the Jan. 24 event. "You’ve got to keep fit and do whatever it takes to stay healthy," says Alex.

Mary Scott has been selected by AARP, the nonprofit membership organization for people 50 and over, to receive Texas’s 2009 AARP Andrus Award for Community Service, the Association’s most prestigious and visible volunteer award for community service. This award symbolizes that individuals have the power and ability to make a difference in the lives of others.