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JULY 22, 2014 BY TOMMY
By Keysha Drexel
Journal editor
Next week, 50 Birmingham metro area residents over the age of 50 will be honored for their lifelong achievements in business and community service.
Positive Maturity will hold the inaugural Top 50 Over 50 gala at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center on July 31. The organization will hand out its first PM Awards at the event.
A United Way partner, Positive Maturity has its headquarters on Montclair Road in Birmingham and serves seniors in Jefferson, Shelby, Walker and Blount counties.
The nonprofit organization got its start in 1970 when leaders at Independent Presbyterian Church saw a need to serve the aging community and formed an agency to meet that need. The agency was first called Profitable Maturity, Inc. but changed its name to Positive Maturity to better reflect its nonprofit status.
In 1972, the agency became one of the early partners of the Corporation for National and Community Service through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP. Positive Maturity became a United Way of Central Alabama partner in 1975 and was based in the United Way of Central Alabama building for 30 years before moving to the Montclair Road location.
Positive Maturity continues to forge new community partnerships throughout Jefferson, Shelby, Blount and Walker counties and has increased its services to include the Aging Workers Are Reliable Employees program, the foster grandparents program and the senior companion program.
Additionally, Positive Maturity provides recreation through the Shepherd Center East program and social services through its geriatric social worker program.
The Top 50 Over 50 gala is sponsored by the city of Birmingham and several other local organizations and agencies. Mike Royer of Alabama 13 will be the emcee for the event.
The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour followed by a seated dinner.
The Top 50 Over 50 award recipients will be honored shortly after the dinner.
Those being honored for their achievements in business, civic engagement, encore careers and advocacy include J. Dudley Pewitt, Nick Saban, Bud Cason, Ellyn Grady, Yolanda Sullivan, Jesse Lewis, Max Cooper, Joan Perry, Priscilla Davis, Chris Green, Ty Dodge, Chris Monceret, Brenda Hackney, John Lauriello, John Beard, Annetta Verin, Renea Mitchell McKinney, A.C. Roper, Robert Haley, Dorris Maddox, Maria Bouchelle Campbell, Gary Burley, Paul Kennedy, Helen Shores Lee, Cameron Vowell, Richard Weiss, J.D. Simpson, Glory Abercrombie, Marion Kristine Mueller, Kenneth Jackson, C.H. “Stretch” Dunn, Alice McSpadden Williams, José Antonio Valencia, Debra H. Goldstein, Sherri Van Pelt, Stanley Virciglio, Alan Poole, Miller Piggott, Van L. Richey, Frances Ross Nolan, Dennis Pappas Sr., Tony Ippolito, Luis Pineda, Martha Bidez, Richard Arrington, William Miller, Shelley Stewart and Frank Stitt.
Tickets are $100, winner’s table seating for six is $1,000 and VIP seating for a table of eight is $1,200. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.top50over50.com. For more information on Positive Maturity, visit www.positivematurity.org.