With its annual Inspire Awards, AARP The Magazine salutes outstanding individuals who are using their energy, creativity, and passion to make the world a better place. In December 2009, AARP The Magazine editor Nancy Perry Graham and CBS sports announcer and AARP Community Ambassador James Brown hosted a reception and dinner tribute for honorees.

The Magazine celebrated the following individuals for their stellar contributions:

Glenn Close, the actress and New York activist, who has embraced the effort to remove the stigma of mental disease.

Richard M. Cohen, a former CBS reporter and producer who has multiple sclerosis and has been a tireless advocate for people with chronic disease.

Martin Eakes, a Durham, N.C., entrepreneur who created a community credit union that since 1984 has provided $5.2 billion to 60,130 home buyers.

Katherine Freund, who has helped establish independent transportation networks that last year provided 30,000 rides to seniors in eight states.

Peter Gallagher, a film and Broadway veteran who witnessed his mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and immersed himself in the search for a cure.

David E. Hayes-Bautista, a former community activist who is now director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA.

Quincy Jones, musician and entertainer who devotes his free time to the Quincy Jones Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at helping poor children throughout the world.

Susan Love, M.D., a California biologist and cofounder of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, who with the Avon Foundation launched the Army of Women Initiative to accelerate the search for a cure.

Rose Nakamura of Honolulu, who created Project Dana, which provides caregiving services for 1,000 older residents in Hawaii.

Alma Powell, a passionate advocate of children who chairs America’s Promise Alliance, a children’s aid organization she founded in 1997 with her husband, Gen. Colin Powell.