ICAA honors organizations with its 2011 Green Award

[Back to releases]

Award recognizes recipients’ efforts to encourage environmental stewardship

VANCOUVER--The International Council on Active Aging® (ICAA), an association that leads, connects and defines the active-aging industry, is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 ICAA Green Award, a category in the ICAA Innovators Awards program. ICAA’s annual awards honor those in the active-aging industry that are leading the way, setting new standards and making a difference in the lives of older adults. The ICAA Green Award specifically recognizes organizations that encourage environmental stewardship by creating and/or implementing eco-friendly products, services, processes, designs or programs in their settings. This year’s recipients are two senior living communities: Grand Lake Gardens, Oakland, California, and Timber Ridge at Talus, Issaquah, Washington.

Grand Lake Gardens, an American Baptist Homes of the West continuing care retirement community, created an on-site community garden on a once-empty plot of land known as the Upper Acre. A grant from Rebuilding Together Oakland, a local affiliate of the national nonprofit that partners volunteers and donors with worthy projects, helped Grand Lake Gardens build this garden with the help of the Piedmont Community Service Group. The busy Grand Lake Community Gardeners have now sustained the site into its second autumn. Since spring 2010, the garden has provided more than 800 lbs. of fresh, local and organic produce, feeding 900 impoverished older adults per week at the nearby St. Mary’s Center.

A Life Care Services community, Timber Ridge at Talus opened its doors in 2008 as “the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified senior living community in the United States,” according to Executive Director Scott Doherty. In the years since, Timber Ridge has initiated a variety of green stewardship programs and continues to research others. Current programs and projects include, among others, an eco-ware containers service that reduces waste and saves money; a newspaper recycling system that supports a local nonprofit; a cardboard baler to aid cardboard recycling; and food waste and paper composting to divert garbage from the local landfill. Success “can be measured environmentally, financially, through resident feedback, and improved operations,” says Doherty.

“Whether man-made or natural, the environment that surrounds us is integral to health and well-being,” states ICAA’s founder and CEO, Colin Milner. “That is why ICAA integrated the environmental dimension into our multidimensional model of wellness in 2010.” (ICAA’s model now includes social, emotional, vocational, spiritual, intellectual, physical and environmental wellness.) “The ICAA Green Award, also initiated last year, honors organizations for encouraging stewardship, which contributes to a healthier world and to an environment that supports wellness for everyone,” Milner continues. “On behalf of ICAA, I congratulate Grand Lake Gardens and Timber Ridge at Talus on their inspiring environmental efforts.”

The two award-winners will each receive a crystal award of recognition to display. In addition, in-depth profiles will appear in ICAA’s flagship publication, the Journal on Active Aging®, in 2012.

Separately, ICAA is naming the winners of the ICAA Innovators Awards for programs and concepts that advance active aging, and the ICAA Innovative Solutions Award for products/services that improve older-adult wellness. Announcements and brief descriptions of all the 2011 ICAA Innovators are posted online at www.icaa.cc/awards/pressreleases.htm.

About the ICAA Innovators Awards program
Established in 2003, the ICAA Innovators Awards program honors excellence and creativity in the active-aging industry. ICAA’s awards are presented in three categories: ICAA Innovators Award, for programs and concepts that advance active aging; ICAA Innovative Solutions Award, for products and services that improve older-adult wellness; and ICAA Green Award, for environmental stewardship efforts. By recognizing cutting-edge programs, products and environments as well as those who developed or nurtured them, ICAA highlights solutions for industry leaders and governmental organizations to learn from. Award-winners work on inspiring new directions in older-adult health and wellness. Not only do they give us a glimpse into the trends shaping the future of active aging, they also show us that with the right opportunities and environments, older adults can live as fully as possible throughout the life span.

About the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)
ICAA, the professional association that leads, connects and defines the active-aging industry, supports professionals who develop wellness facilities, programs and services for adults over 50. The association is focused on active aging-an approach to aging that helps older adults live as fully as possible within all dimensions of wellness-and provides its members with education, information, resources and tools. As an active-aging educator and advocate, ICAA has advised numerous organizations and governmental bodies, including the US Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging (one of the US National Institutes of Health), the US Department of Health and Human Services, Canada's Special Senate Committee on Aging, and the British Columbia ministries of Health, and Healthy Living and Sport. On October 1, 2011-the International Day of Older Persons-ICAA celebrated its 10th Anniversary and a decade of Changing the Way We Age®.

###

For interviews please contact:

Contact: Colin Milner, CEO, ICAA
Toll-free: 1-866-335-9777 (North America)
Telephone: 604-734-4466; cell: 604-763-4595
colinmilner@icaa.cc

Contact: Marilynn Larkin
Communications Director, ICAA
212-315-3301
mlarkin@icaa.cc