Caroline Kennedy, Gary Sinise To Be Honored at AARP The Magazine 2008 Inspire Awards
To: NATIONAL EDITORS
Contact: Michelle Alvarez of AARP, +1-202-434-2560 (office), +1- 202-390-0032 (mobile), Malvarez@aarp.org; or Melissa Hobley, +1-212- 536-9824 (office), +1-646-489-0112 (mobile), for AARP
–Gladys Knight, Helen Thomas, Astronaut Barbara Morgan Also Recognized–
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the worlds largest- circulation magazine with 33 million readers, today announced the recipients of its 2008 Inspire Awards.The Inspire Awards (formerly called the Impact Awards) pay tribute to 10 extraordinary people whose contributions inspire others to action through their innovative thinking, passion and perseverance. This years honorees include Caroline Kennedy(Community Service Advocate), Gary Sinise(Fundraiser for Operation Iraqi Children), Gladys Knight(Champion for Diabetes Research), Barbara Morgan(Courageous Educator), Liviu Librescu(Virginia Tech Hero), Helen Thomas(Trailblazing Journalist), Cynthia Kenyon(Pioneer in Longevity Research), Ed Boyer(Founder of Air Transportation Aid), Roslyn Hill(Leader of Neighborhood Revitalization), and Pete Garcia(Affordable Housing Advocate).
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The Inspire Awards showcase people who are using their passion for action to make the world a better place, said Steven Slon, editor of AARP The Magazine. These leaders who innovatively support and spark change within their communities are an inspiration to us all.
Honorees will receive their Inspire Awards during a private luncheon hosted by Barbara Waltersat the New York Public Library on December 3, 2007. Their profiles appear in the January/February 2008 issue of AARP The Magazine,released at the end of November, and at http://www.aarpmagazine.org.
THE 2008 INSPIRE AWARD WINNERS
Ed Boyer — Pilot with a Mission
When Ed Boyer was asked, in the early 1970s, to fly several needy patients to distant hospitals in a borrowed single-engine plane, he figured he was just doing an occasional good deed. But not long after, when the requests starting pouring in, he realized that he was witnessing one of the biggest gaps in our health care system. Typically there is all kinds of money for medical research, but not a dime to help people get there, says Boyer. And so he created Mercy Medical Airlift, the nations first medical-air-transportation charity, and in 1992, he quit his job to devote all of his time to the venture. Now, 35 years after that first flight, Boyer coordinates some 7,500 volunteer pilots transporting more than 25,000 patients a year through Air Charity Network. I realized this wasnt going to become a national system with me flying them one at a time, says Boyer, 70. Somebody had to put the thing together.
Pete C. Garcia — Affordable Housing Advocate
Whenever Pete C. Garcia visited an older Hispanic persons home, he noticed three things: Pets, flowers, and lots of santos(pictures and statues of saints). But as president and CEO of Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC), a nonprofit community development corporation, he knew most senior communities in the heavily Hispanic Phoenix area didnt have any of those things. Our community wasnt being served, says Garcia, now 63. The revelation inspired him to build Casa de Primavera–the first of seven CPLC-built developments in Arizona. His group also funds small Hispanic-owned businesses, runs a federal credit union, offers employment training, and provides shelter for domestic violence victims. Says CPLC cofounder Terri Cruz, He has an incredible heart.
Roslyn Hill — Urban Blight Fighter
Today they call her the Queen of Alberta — but in 1992, when Roslyn Hill set out to redeem a decrepit street in Portland, Oregon, her friends called her crazy. She started small, selling her own home to buy and rehabilitate a ramshackle building on Northeast Alberta Street. Unable to find a tenant, she opened a coffeehouse. It was an instant hit, including its special gallery for works by artists of color. Soon she was buying and upgrading adjacent properties and shrewdly combining commercial and residential spaces. Now 61, Hill presides over an Alberta Street that is one of the hottest locales in town thanks to what the Portland Oregoniancalls a racially diverse, edgy aesthetic that stands out even in a city known for its unique neighborhood commerce districts.
Caroline Kennedy — Scion of Public Service
Ever since she was a little girl, people have told Caroline Kennedy that her fathers inaugural challenge — Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country– changed their lives. To me, that is one of his greatest legacies, she says. Now 50 and a busy wife, mom, and bestselling author (her latest project is A Family Christmas, a collection of holiday- themed poetry that she and her brother John loved), Kennedy is also on course to define her own legacy as vice chair of New York Citys reform-minded Fund for Public Schools, raising tens of millions of dollars for the citys education system. Having grown up in New York, and having school-age children, it was shocking to realize how starved our students and schools have been for so long, she says. Knowing the impact my parents had, and have, has always given me a continuing sense of their presence, as well as an understanding of the power every individual has to make a difference.
Cynthia Kenyon — Longevity Researcher
When molecular biologist Cynthia Kenyon first began studying the aging process, most researchers thought the body just wore out, like an old car. And I thought, No, theres going to be something beautiful here, recalls Kenyon, 53. That something beautiful turned out to be her 1993 discovery that the aging process can be turned on and off by tweaking a single gene in a one-millimeter worm. At first, Kenyon had a hard time recruiting grad students to work with her; now they flock to her University of California, San Francisco, lab. Her humble beginnings have led to a monumental shift in how scientists think about aging. And her work could lead to breakthroughs in beating cancer, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and other age-related diseases.
Gladys Knight — Health Crusader
Ask her about diabetes and you might wonder if 63-year-old music legend Gladys Knight has been harboring a second career as a nurse: Shell give you a heartfelt lecture on how to prevent the disease, how to delay it, and how to live a healthy life despite it. Knights passion is fueled by experienceand foremost, by love: Her mother Elizabeth battled type 2 diabetes for 50 years, until she died in 1997. After her mothers death, the seven-time Grammy Award winner helped establish the Elizabeth Knight Fund, which so far has raised $3 million to support diabetes research and awareness programs. I tell people what I tell myself — you have choices, she says. Making good ones isnt always easy, but it pays off.
Liviu Librescu — Hero
Liviu Librescu didnt set out to be a hero on April 16, 2007. It started out as just another day teaching students at his beloved Virginia Tech University, where he had been a distinguished professor of aeronautical engineering for more than 20 years. But when a gunman attempted to enter the classroom where Dr. Librescu was teaching, he reacted instinctively and selflessly, physically barricading the door so his students could escape through the windows. It wasnt the first time Dr. Librescu had faced adversity — he was a Holocaust survivor who, as a youth, had been confined to a Jewish ghetto in his native Romania. Says Robert Heller, Ph.D., a friend and fellow Virginia Tech engineering professor: He resisted the Communist regime in Romania, and he died so as to not allow a tyrant to rule over him or his students.
Barbara Morgan — Educator Turned Astronaut
Of 11,000 eager applicants, Idaho elementary-school teacher Barbara Morgan was one of two instructors chosen by NASA in 1984 to fly on the space shuttle. The other teacher, New Hampshires Christa McAuliffe, got to go first — and her death in the 1986 Challengerdisaster seemed to end the Teachers in Space program forever. But Morgan remained one of NASAs most vocal supporters, relentlessly promoting space exploration and insisting that the best way to respond to setbacks is not with fear, but with courage and determination. Last August, her dream of rocketing into orbit on the space shuttle Endeavourcame true. Says Morgan, 56: I want all of our students and teachers to get some stardust on them.
Gary Sinise — Protector of Children
Gary Sinise wants your rulers. And your crayons. Thats because Sinise, 52, the poker-faced cop on TVs CSI: New York, is the driving force behind Operation Iraqi Children, a nationwide effort to send school supplies to kids in war-torn Iraq. More than 200,000 children have received school kits — solicited by Sinises organization and distributed by U.S. soldiers. Says Sinise: There are millions of average people like you and me over there just trying to make a living and send their kids to school. Since 2004, his group has raised more than $1 million, largely through its website, www.operationiraqichildren.org. Sinise has also been to Iraq three times, performing for the troops with his rock group, the Lt. Dan Band, named for his Oscar-nominated role in Forrest Gump.
HelenThomas — First Amendment Defender
No one will ever accuse Helen Thomas of being intimidated by the power of the presidency. During 39 years covering the White House for UPI, she became known for her traditional tag line at the close of each White House news conference — Thank you, Mr. President — and also for her relentlessly tough questions. I didnt go into this business to be loved or even popular, says the 87-year-old pioneering newswoman. One of nine children of Lebanese immigrants, Thomas says her nosiness (and undoubtedly her nose for news) led to her first job as copygirl at the now-defunct Washington Daily News, where she immediately began breaking news–and gender barriers. Now a columnist for Hearst Newspapers, she remains a valued voice in Washington.
About AARP
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin, our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+ educators; and our website, http://www.AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
SOURCE AARP DC
(c) 2007 U.S. Newswire. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.