The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Founded in 1958 by Dr. Ethel Percy, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has been dedicated to addressing the needs and interests of older Americans. Percy felt that older Americans could attain a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment by remaining physically and intellectually active in society, thus came about his idea to form the AARP. The AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization open to anyone, working or retired, over the age of 50. Based in Wash-ington, D.C., the AARP pursues its goals through service, advocacy, and education. The AARP's ultimate goal is to help older Americans achieve lives of independence, dignity, and purpose. The AARP is spread nation wide through local chapters and is run mainly by volunteer board members at the local and national levels. The 33 million members of the AARP can expect many benefits as well as support from the AARP. The wide range of services span anywhere from movie tickets to grants for re-search. The AARP also has many publications in the form of audio and publications. The most famous of these publications is the bimonthly Modern Maturity which targets all readers inter-ested in AARP issues. The issues and goals the AARP advocates span a great deal throughout the political, economic, and social arena. While diverse in its areas of interest, the AARP mainly concentrates on social issues. Being a nonpartisan organization, the AARP does not nationally endorse or contribute any money to the campaigns of any candidate running for national positions including presidency. Politics in the AARP is basically left to the individual to decide whom he/she will support. The only participation the AARP takes is through the AARP/VOTE program. The goals of the AARP/VOTE program are to educate AARP members and the general public about important economic, health and consumer issues, and about the positions taken by candidates for public office on these issues. They also inform candidates and elected officials of AARP's positions on key policy issues and help elected officials be more responsive to the needs of their districts or states by promoting effective communication with their constituents. AARP/VOTE is successful because of its effective methods used t... ... middle of paper ... ... Security and private pensions by increasing the amount of contributions with more people working and by delaying payments. Finally, the AARP stands firmly against age-related driver testing. They say it is discriminatory and isn't the solution to the elderly's driving problems. The solution the AARP proposes is education. They would like to educate the elderly more about driving as well as having tougher tests when renewing driver's licenses. Another suggestion is to have more conspicuous and highly visible road signs. These ideas all together, says the AARP, would make roadways safer for all drivers. Thus, through this small sample of their large interest for social issues, one can get a better idea how the AARP stands. Being a member of the AARP has it's many personal benefits as well as having the satisfaction that as an older person, one is still involved in society at the political, economic, and social levels. The AARP has been around for 38 years strong, being very effective and providing a solid voice for older Americans, and its success so far will assure its survival into the 21st century becoming one of the most well rounded organizations.
Nonprofit and voluntary type organizations play a major and integral role in American society. Each group exists today because they were established with the desire to help those in need by providing products, good and services. In the article “Toward Nonprofit Reform in Voluntary Spirit: Lessons From the Internet”, the authors stated the that nonprofit and the voluntary sector can include professional, the paid nonprofit, and grassroots organizations (Brainard & Siplon, 2004, p. 435). Even though these organizations may have the same or similar structures, I will compare and contrast the economic and political difference and similarity between the two.
... middle of paper ... ... But more than anything, I believe, his contribution to society has been his legacy of service to others and the commitment to social justice for communities fighting against inequalities. References Ferris, Susan & Sandoval, Ricardo (1998).
The nonprofit sector in America is a reflection some of the foundational values that brought our nation into existence. Fundamentals, such as the idea that people can govern themselves and the belief that people should have the opportunity to make a difference by joining a like-minded group, have made America and its nonprofit sector what it is today. The American "civil society" is one that has been produced through generations of experiments with government policy, nonprofit organizations, private partnerships, and individuals who have asserted ideas and values. The future of the nonprofit sector will continue to be experimental in many ways. However, the increase of professional studies in nonprofit management and the greater expectation of its role in society is causing executives to look to more scientific methods of management.
Originally passed as the Older Americans Act of 1965, current bill S.1028, also known as, Older Americans Act Amendments of 2013 is a request for the reauthorization of the original act of 1965…with current amendments. Bill S.1028, although not passed, is currently sponsored by Senator Bernard Sanders of the state of Vermont. The bill was introduced on the 23rd of May, 2013, in which there were fourteen cosponsors. Approximately two months later four additional senators signed-on as cosponsors, totaling eighteen. They were all Democrats.
The United States Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919. Its purpose was to benefit veterans and their families, promote Americanism and serve the greater good of communities nationwide. First welcomed to membership were veterans returning home from the battlefields of Europe. But over the years, Congress amended the Legion’s charter so as to include those who had served in World War II, Korea and more recent conflicts.
John W. Gardner born 1912, had a varied and productive career as an educator, public official, and political reformer. Gardner's belief in society's potential was his guiding force, but he was wary of the dangers of complacency and inaction. Perhaps best known as the founder of the lobby Common Cause, he was the author of several best-selling books on the themes of achieving personal and societal excellence.
The American Diabetes Association is an organization founded in 1940. It was founded by physicians to help research and find ways to fight diabetes. The ADA now is a large organization that consists of 90 offices in the United States. The main focus of the ADA is to help cure people affected with diabetes and to help provide the best lifestyle for the people through research programs by providing information to the victims, the families of the victims and to the public. The ADA provides a number of programs and activities that are supported by many physicians, research scientist, companies, and communities. The mission for the association is to provide the best life they can for individuals diagnosed with any type of diabetes.
The first positive affect of John D. Rockefeller was his donations of large sums of money to public institutions. During his lifetime, Rockefeller gave away 540 million dollars (Sicilia 2006). Almost all of his philanthropies occurred after his retirement from Standard Oil. Donations varied from colleges, to churches, to hospitals. With the help of his son and Frederick Gates, the man Rockefeller put in charge of his philanthropies, he was able to help improve the lives of many (Poole 2000).
With the aging population growing faster every year many families must make a difficult decision whether their loved ones should live in assisted living or nursing home facilities. I can relate because I made the decision to care for my mother at my home. Some people do not have the money or resources to care for their parent so they must live in a facility for health and safety reasons.
With advanced technologies in health care, the average lifespan of humans is around eighty-eight years, and these numbers are growing rapidly. Most elderly outnumber the younger within our population now, and with more of the baby boomer generation reaching the gold years, this number will rise exponentially. The cost of healthcare rising and the amount of Medicare funds decreasing makes caring for that loved one challenging. Statistics by Dr. Feng presented, “Individuals are living much longer; family structures are changing; women have entered the workforce. With no national health insurance program like Medicare and with the one-child policy that places elder care responsibilities on fewer shoulders” (Dr Feng). To some, the question of placing an elderly family member in long-term care facilities is a difficult one to consider. All too many times the elderly abandoned are not seeing families until visitation funeral ceremonies.
What do the following have in common? Dedication, commitment, raising awareness, fund-raising, and life saving programs? That's right! The ASPCA! This organization stands for American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They have accomplished all of the above and much more. From providing millions of animals with adequate shelter, and the proper care they deserve, the ASPCA is a charitable organization that positively impacts the nation. People can only imagine the horror of having to give up a pet for reasons beyond their control, they would be devastated for sure. More importantly, they would want to find a place that would provide their pet with a loving home, and people who would care for it as they have. The ASPCA has a reputation that wouldn't leave pet owners with any doubts about the safety and well-being of their pets.
Successful Aging Elderly (SAE) Introduction In the elderly population most of the research carried out so far emphasizes on the functional problems and diseases. When it comes to successful aging elderly (SEA), it has been recommended that health status should be used to distinguish between elderly subgroups and disease-free people who can describe successful aging elderly (SAE). The research papers aims to describe a transitory overview of successful aging elderly research, illustrated in their chief sections: cognitive aspects, psychological and social aspects. It is proposed that future studies will unemployment an extensive demonstration of SAE, where the emphasis will be more on biological, health and cognitive perspectives.
The basis of this essay was to state the reasons why I think the aging
America is a country where everyone is free to live however they like, but it is possible for some people to live a happy life, if no one is around to take care of them. Nearly three hundred million people reside in the America, and out of those three hundred million populations, senior citizens make a 12 percent of the entire population. A senior citizen is commonly known as a person who is over the age of 65 and living on retirement, or known as social security benefits (Census Bureau). Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt implied the act of Social Security in 1935, seniors are regularly provided a financial help, but seniors, along with financial help, seeks also accompany of someone who can look after them. Because of constantly growing needs of senior citizens, government as well as many non-profit organizations is working on helping seniors. Therefore I decided to research on this particular issue in my community, and I found that 64.5% of seniors are living alone in metropolitan area of Atlanta.
Retirement is one of the most important crossroads we face in life. It involves a fundamental change in lifestyle, one that calls for a totally new outlook on how we approach each day. All our lives we have been conditioned to think in terms of saving for our retirement years. Society has created this mystique about this time in our lives when we magically transform into different people with different lives when really we are the same people with different day to day lives. According to Medina, (2012) planning for retirement isn’t a "walk in the park" because for many people, debts are high while income is low.