Active Aging Week wrap-up gala celebrates 15-year anniversary of organization that started it

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[VANCOUVER, BC, September 25, 2016) —October 1 will be a milestone in this year's Active Aging Week in more ways than one. Besides being the last day of the 2016 version of the event started in 2003 by the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA), it also happens to fall precisely on the 15th anniversary of ICAA's inception.

To celebrate, ICAA will be featured in a gala event organized by one of its long-term Active Aging Week partners, Aegies Therapies. More than 1000 people are expected to gather at the Augusta Market in Augusta, Georgia for a very special Walk! With Aegis Therapies stroll along the Savannah River, hosted by Aegis Therapies, EnerG by Aegis and event co-hosts The Family YMCA of Greater Augusta and University Hospital.

Dignitaries will include US Congressman Rick Allen (R-GA), Aegis Therapies' CEO Martha Schram and ICAA founder and CEO Colin Milner, and will begin with welcome speeches by them and by Staci Brandt of Nestlé Skin Health. A Walk! with Aegis Therapies team will then warm up the crowd for a walk along the Savannah River, with Boy Scouts and others standing by to lend a hand along the one-mile and three-mile courses.

The event will feature a marching band, military demonstration, prizes, T-shirts, lunch and a cook-off with Aegis's "celebrity chef" Chef Darrin, and will round out thousands of other Active Aging Week events across the United States, Canada, Australia and India held over seven days beginning Sept. 25.

"What better way for ICAA to celebrate 15 years than with partners and friends?" says Milner.

"It took a while for the concept of active aging to catch on. When we came up with it, only a few people embraced it. Most still had ill-founded perceptions of what older adults could do. A few months later the World Health Organization launched a global initiative around active aging, and before long it went mainstream. Today the term 'active aging' is used everywhere. We've come a long way in our attitudes about realizing the potential within each and every one of us, regardless of age."

More than 3,000 organizations will be hosting Active Aging Week events this year: cities including San Jose, CA, Greenbelt, MD and Winnipeg, Manitoba, as well as retirement communities, CCRC's, therapy providers, assisted living and long-term care communities, corporate wellness, libraries, fitness clubs, community centers, hospital wellness centers, YMCAs, JCCs and others. Events range from walks and dances to games, fitness classes, health fairs and social gatherings will touch on all dimensions of wellness - emotional, vocational, physical, spiritual, intellectual, social and environmental.

Active Aging Week partners: Abbott Nutrition, Aegis Therapies and EnerG by Aegis, Caption Call, Nestle Skin Health, SwimEx, The Presidents Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.

Registration for the Augusta walk begins on site at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 1, with events kicking off at 10 a.m. The address of the event is:

The Augusta Market
15 8th Street
Augusta, GA 30901
http://www.theaugustamarket.com/

About Active Aging Week
Website: www.activeagingweek.com

Active Aging Week was started in 2003 by the International Council on Active Aging as an international event celebrating aging and active living by engaging older adults in wellness activities in a safe, friendly and fun atmosphere. It is held every year in the last week of September.

About the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)

ICAA, a 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 life 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.

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