SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – AARP Maine named Age Friendly South Portland (AFSP) the winner of its 2024 Beacon Community Award. AARP Maine recognizes one organization each year to win this award, which recognizes an organization that has demonstrated excellence in serving older adults. AFSP is an ad-hoc committee of the City of South Portland and member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities.
Age Friendly South Portland is responsible for a number of initiatives that serve South Portland’s older community. AFSP members coordinate volunteers to shovel walkways for seniors in need of assistance, collaborate with South Portland Public Works to deliver sand buckets to seniors, organize an annual Age Friendly Resource Fair that attracts over 300 attendees and 40 vendors, and more. This year, AFSP partnered with the City’s Emergency Management team and the South Portland Housing Authority to get over 500 emergency “go bags” in the hands of seniors. The group secured an AARP Community Challenge grant to fund the project. This week, the Governor’s Office also announced that it has awarded AFSP a $12K grant to strengthen community resiliency and support personal emergency preparedness for those experiencing food insecurity.
“Age-Friendly South Portland is the epitome of what it means to be a collaborative, engaging, action-oriented community that focuses on helping older adults live, and thrive, in place,” said Noël Bonam, AARP Maine State Director. “It is exciting to see that in a relatively short amount of time this remarkable community has made such strides on behalf of older community residents. We are delighted to present this award to them in recognition of their accomplishments.”
Lisa Joyce, co-chair of Age Friendly South Portland, said of the award, “Age- Friendly South Portland is honored to receive the Beacon Community Award from AARP Maine, and for all the support they have provided to us over the years to help support the older adult population of South Portland.”
City Manager Scott Morelli congratulated the group for this recognition. “Age Friendly South Portland does fantastic work on behalf of our community’s older adults. We’re thrilled that AARP Maine is shining a spotlight on their numerous and impactful accomplishments.”
AARP Maine celebrated its 2024 award recipients at its Annual Meeting on October 29 in Bangor. To learn more about AARP Maine and the Beacon Community Award, visit: https://states.aarp.org/maine
To learn more about and get involved with Age Friendly South Portland and the City’s many volunteer boards and committees, visit: www.southportland.gov/committees
About the City of South Portland
The City of South Portland is a vibrant Southern Maine community of nearly 27,000 residents and over 1,500 businesses located on picturesque Casco Bay. www.southportland.gov
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