AARP Celebrates 50th Anniversary in Houston

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The sight of a purple-colored critter named Champ and new Divided We Fail tee shirts, plus the sounds of 75 new bouncing basketballs, left Houston-area kids at the Salvation Army’s Boys and Girls Club grinning from ear-to-ear as AARP celebrated its 50th anniversary recently in the Bayou City.

The event inaugurated a new AARP-funded playground, basketball court, activity center and teen room at the facility in Houston’s Acres Homes, a low-income neighborhood. Highlights included an impassioned speech by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Houston, and proclamations by the congresswoman issued to both AARP and community partner Rebuilding Together, a national nonprofit that rehabilitates houses. Board member Mary Scott talked about the meaning of the anniversary and the intergenerational legacy left behind by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, and various Houston area officials assisted in cutting the ceremonial ribbon to the new facilities. A photo and caption of the event was featured in the Houston Chronicle.

The Salvation Army event came on the heels of an unforgettable event at Furr High School, in which AARP handed a $100,000 check along with the Ethel Percy Andrus Legacy Award to the Houston school for its model intergenerational program targeted at nearby elderly residents. The Furr High activity, well covered by Houston media, also included speeches by U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, city and education officials, AARP Board Member Mary Scott and AARP Texas State Director Bob Jackson. A media tour of the school’s cosmetology lab and film studio followed. This is a school that was renowned for low achievement and campus violence in the past but has been completely turned around. AARP helped recognize this remarkable achievement and the activity laid the groundwork for possible new areas of collaboration with the school in the near future.

See how AARP is celebrating its 50th Anniversary nationwide.
http://www.aarp.org/aarp/50thAnniversary/