By Allison Gayne
On Monday, Sept. 28, 83-year-old Sabina Miller of Great Neck was crowned 2015 Savvy Senior Queen. Seniors from across Long Island and Queens were showered with admiration and appreciation during Association of Generational Experts for Seniors’ (AGES) Sixth Annual Savvy Senior Day at Parker Jewish Institute in New Hyde Park.
Each senior nominated attended the event with family and friends, where they were publicly recognized for their vast accomplishments and contributions within their communities. Among those honored were 70-year-old Jim Alchus of Little Neck who was crowned King.
The king and queen were each awarded gift certificates for professional oil painting portraits, courtesy of Bradford Renaissance Portraits. Other senior nominees honored during this year’s Savvy Senior Day were Siroon Shahinian, PhD, also from Great Neck; Stanley Gayda of Maple Pointe Assisted Living in Rockville Centre; Miriam Epstein, a resident at Atria Glen Cove in Glen Cove; and Rose Collo of Elmont.
“Savvy Senior Day is a special event that gives seniors living within our communities the opportunity to be recognized for all the wonderful accomplishments and contributions they’ve made and continue to make,” says AGES Chairperson Kevin Lawrence. “Each year, AGES is given the privilege of receiving so many wonderful senior nominations and it is with great honor that we get to celebrate them each year among their families at our annual Savvy Senior Day event.”
Miller, who was crowned 2015 Savvy Senior Queen by 2014 Savvy Senior Queen Lillian Guadagno of Valley Stream, received her royal title in recognition of her community activism and outreach to fellow seniors. Miller’s contributions have earned her significant public praise and accolades, including Great Neck Chamber of Commerce’s Jesse M. Markel Community Achievement Award and two Town of North Hempstead’s May W. Newburger Women’s Roll of Honor designations. Among various initiatives Miller has led are cohosting the Town of North Hempstead’s Project Independence Radio Show that broadcasts out of CW Post, serving on Great Neck’s Project Independence Advisory Board, and serving as a 25-year volunteer at Children’s Learning After School Program (CLASP), a nonprofit Day Care Center in Great Neck.
She is a three-time former Great Neck Lions Club president and served as cochair of the Bachelor Auction Public Access TV Station fundraiser held at the Merchant Marine Academy. In addition, she has been a 12-year volunteer with OmbudService as an advocate of residents, patients and families with administration at Grace Plaza Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Great Neck. Among her other notable charitable efforts is visiting Easter Island (located halfway between Chile and Tahiti), where she volunteered her personal services and provided eyeglasses to children in need.
“I was so shocked to be named this year’s Savvy Senior Queen,” says Miller. “Every senior attending this year’s Savvy Senior Day was a senior who does great volunteer work and understands that when you do volunteer work you are helping yourself just as much as you are helping others. I am so fortunate and humbled to been among last year’s Savvy Senior Day honorees and am even more humbled to be crowned this year’s 2015 Savvy Senior Queen among so many other remarkable seniors who have also shown such tremendous level of community outreach and volunteerism.”
Miller admires AGES and its mission to recognize seniors during its annual Savvy Senior Day. “I think what AGES does in recognizing seniors each year through its annual Savvy Senior Day is so wonderful,” she explains. “To be in a room full of seniors who you have so much in common with in terms of passion for volunteerism provides all of us with great pride and great sense of camaraderie. I thank AGES for bringing us together and providing us with a special forum where we not only get the opportunity to be recognized for our personal contributions and accomplishments but also receive the chance to celebrate and recognize one another.”
AGES is an independent network of caring and knowledgeable professionals from family and senior related fields, which was created in the New York Metropolitan area to address the needs and challenges that face many families today. Working within a cohesive resource team that addresses the concerns of senior citizens and the “sandwiched” generation (adult children caregivers), AGES members apply their personal skill sets to help guide seniors and family caregivers toward an improved quality of life.
For more information, visit www.agesresourcenetwork.com.
