Residents Honored for Serving as Models of Positive Aging
From coordinating community service activities to teaching others about technology to starting new hobbies, Lenbrook Residents are leading their best lives and helping others, too. Many serve as models for positive aging, and that’s why the LeadingAge Georgia Center for Positive Aging regularly recognizes Lenbrook Residents.
Since 2012, the Center has recognized 13 Lenbrook Residents at its annual Profiles in Positive Aging signature event. The gala celebrates older adults who live with purpose and meaning, serve others, are catalysts for well-being in their communities, embrace their passions, and inspire others to be their best selves as they age. The Lenbrook honorees have served as positive aging models in many ways, including making it a priority to find joy and thankfulness in life, pursuing hobbies, and leading activities at Lenbrook and in the Atlanta community.
LeadingAge Georgia is the statewide association that represents key not-for-profit and other mission-driven organizations dedicated to providing quality housing, health care, and community-based services that people need, when they need them, in the places they call home. It is affiliated with LeadingAge, a national association focused on advocacy, leadership development, and applied research and promotion of effective services, home health, hospice, community services, senior housing, assisted living residences, continuing care communities, nursing homes, and technology solutions for seniors, children, and others with special needs.
In 2024, LeadingAge Georgia honored Don and Starr Millen. The Millens moved to Lenbrook in 2019, but they weren’t strangers to the community. From 1993-2005, they played bingo with Starr’s mother when she lived at Lenbrook, making Starr a Lenbrook Legacy.
Soon after moving in, the Millens agreed to launch Backpack Buddies as a way for residents to help others. Each week, they organize volunteers who purchase, pack, and deliver 48 backpacks of non-perishable food to a local school. This important effort has helped address the food needs of at-risk students and enhanced their mental and physical health and ability to learn. It has also provided an enriching way for other Lenbrook Residents to engage and give back to the community.
Learn more about the Millens and the other Profiles in Positive Aging 2024 honorees at https://www.leadingagega.org/center-for-positive-aging1.