National Centenarian Awareness Project – Inspiring Positive Aging. Our nonprofit organization celebrates active centenarians as role models for the future of aging. On our blog, we discuss centenarians and what it’s like to Live to 100 and Beyond.

On the cusp of Arizona's Centennial [Feb 14, 2012], a Phoenix woman is working to end age discrimination by celebrating Arizonans over age 100.

(excerpt)
…    Lynn Peters Adler, director of the National Centenarian Awareness Project, moved to Arizona in 1984 from New York, where she studied elder law at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Advocating for the elderly was an interest that sprung up in Adler's teenage years, when she watched her 60-something grandmother struggle with age-related feelings of shame and marginalization.
     "It seemed to me that older people became shunned by society, and I thought that was wrong," Adler says. "We have so much to learn - not just from centenarians, but from our elders. I always thought it was a shame we don't take advantage of their presence in our lives."   

    In Arizona, Adler saw an opportunity. "I caught the pioneer spirit," she says. "I thought I could really make a difference in this state."
    In 1985, Adler secured a post on Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard's Aging Services Commission, where she became chairwoman and remained for three administrations. Under Goddard, she created the Phoenix Centenarian Program, and then the Arizona Centenarian Program, organizing the first of many statewide centenarian events.
    In 1987, Adler was appointed to the Governor's Advisory Council on Aging, representing the state in Washington, D.C., on National Centenarian Day and working with the National Institute on Aging to develop centenarian programs in each state.
    In 1988, Adler conducted a survey of Arizona's 271 centenarians. She recognized five traits that most centenarians seemed to share: love of life (which included sense of humor and desire to socialize), personal courage, a positive but realistic attitude, a strong religious or spiritual belief, and the ability to "accept the losses and changes that come with aging and not let it stop them," Adler says. She called these traits the "Centenarian Spirit."
    "They don't sit around and worry about dying. They sit around worrying about living," Adler says.  "Most centenarians have lost their spouses. Most centenarians have lost their friends. But they're not quitters. They go on. To hear someone who's 103 say they're enjoying every day of their life – there's nothing better than that."
    In 1989, based on the success of the Arizona programs and inspired by the survey results, Adler launched the National Centenarian Awareness Project, an organization based in Phoenix that advocates for the recognition of elders as essential members of society, nationwide. Adler, now in her 60s, has since written a book. Centenarians: The Bonus Years; co-produced a PBS documentary, Centenarians Tell It Like It Is; and introduced centenarians to Barbara Walters for an ABC special.
    "All my best friends are 100 and over. We go out for lunch and we do things that people would do with any friend at any age," Adler says. "Although they go to the gym more than I do." ...
 

National Centenarian Awareness Project (NCAP) a nonprofit  organization, was founded by Lynn Peters Adler, J.D., who has devoted her career to honoring, studying, and advocating for increased recognition and inclusion of centenarians and all elders as a natural part of the fabric of our society.  Lynn has a wealth of information about this increasing segment of our population and centenarians in particular. Because of her rapport with this special group, she has a unique understanding of their needs, thoughts, behavior and philosophies of life. Lynn’s work is predicated on the belief that ageism in America is both wrong and unnecessary.

     Lynn’s voice on centenarians, longevity and positive aging, with an emphasis on quality of life issues, has been heard throughout the United States. She continues her long-standing involvement in community service with her appointment to a new term on the Arizona Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging (www.azgovernor.gov/gaca)  and the Arizona Attorney General’s Senior Advisory Council.  For ten years she served as chairperson of the Phoenix Mayor’s Aging Services Commission.  She founded the Arizona Centenarian Program during her first term on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging in the mid 1980s. (click for more: About Lynn Peters Adler)
      Lynn, through her company Sterling Resources Inc., is a consultant to businesses on programs relating to aging, longevity, centenarians and others of advanced age. She also serves as a catalyst to bring active centenarians to the public’s attention, often through print and broadcast media.