Unleash the Power of Age: I wish I had come across this link sooner as what a wonderful way to support, share and celebrate older individuals, seniors, and elders in our communities.
Although the opportunity for nominating an older American in the “Unleash the Power of Age Challenge” has just passed (April 29th deadline), we can focus on May is Older American Month. Although this is a U.S. initiative, there is no reason that the concept/idea of celebrating older adults cannot happen world wide.
Once on the site, take a look at the Activity Ideas and remember this is an opportunity for older adults to show their engaged, vibrant and active life through: volunteer activities, continuing education/speaker series, community wide sports day, growing something good (community garden) and community cooking/potluck meal. There are also more ‘creative’ ideas from a dance performance, a play, music, painting a mural and poetry readings as other suggestions:
Unleash the Power of Creativity, the arts can serve as a powerful way to engage older adults in a meaningful process of self-expression. Creative expression can be an individual endeavor, but we truly unleash the power of age when we share as a group and this is important for older people of all cultures and ethnicities, regardless of economic status, age, or physical, emotional and cognitive abilities.
Take a look at the social media gallery on the site for statistics and facts regarding older and elder adult participation in volunteering, intergenerational interactions and opportunities, continued education and work force involvement of those in the elder community. This portion of the website also offers social media tools for Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. Please share May is Older Americans Month on social media to show how much of an asset our elder population is to our community.
Unleash the Power of Age is an initiative of Administration on Aging, Administration for Community Living and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
By Victoria Brewster, MSW
SJS Staff Writer
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Ok,from a social work practice perspective why is it ok to say “our elders”? Are they possessions, like “our” cat or dog, or “our house”? Are they assumed to be infantile like “our children”, something that we have a right to control because we assume they are not capable? Do we ever say “our middle aged people”? We can model anti-ageist attitudes and behaviours through our language.