Arlington, Virginia – ADvancing States, the association representing state long-term services and supports agencies, and its board of directors are proud to announce the winners of three awards for exemplary individuals in aging, disability, and caregiver supports.  On Wednesday, August 28^th, the association honored Enid Borden with the Arthur S. Flemming Award; Kelly Buckland with the Katie Beckett Award; and Gail Hunt with the inaugural Caregiver Award.

Enid Borden is the Founder and CEO of the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger and she has devoted her life’s work to solving for senior hunger.  For nearly three decades, Borden has relentlessly led the effort to first raise public awareness about and to then find solutions to the growing problem of senior hunger in America. She coined the term the “hidden hungry,” bringing the issue of senior hunger into the national dialogue. Under Borden’s leadership NFESH commissioned the first comprehensive, national study on food insecurity among seniors and continues to release groundbreaking research on the causes, consequences and future of senior hunger in America. Highlighting the problem of senior hunger has set the stage for Borden to achieve her life’s mission – formulating creative and innovative solutions and then forging partnerships to ensure those solutions become reality.  Prior to founding NFESH, Borden held a variety of executive positions in the nonprofit, government and private sectors. As the President and CEO of the Meals on Wheels Association of America, Borden elevated talk of local “food insecurity” into a national movement to recognize and end “senior hunger.”

Kelly Buckland is a person with a disability who has been actively involved in disability issues since 1979.  Kelly started his career as an employee for Idaho’s Protection and Advocacy system. He served for over 20 years as the Executive Director of the Boise Center for Independent Living, Living Independence Network Corp., and the Idaho State Independent Living Council. He has served on the Idaho Developmental Disabilities Council, the State Employment and Training Council, and the State Help America Vote Act Steering Committee. He has worked on issues affecting people with disabilities, including passage of the Personal Assistance Services Act and the Fathers and Mothers Independently Living with their Youth (FAMILY) Child Custody Laws.  In 1978, Kelly graduated from Boise State University with a B.A. in Social Work and in 1988 Summa Cum Laude from Drake University with a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling. He has been closely involved with the direct-service and systemic change aspects of the Independent Living movement. 

Gail Hunt founded the National Alliance for Caregiving in 1996 with a coalition of national aging and long-term care organizations. The Alliance conducts research, does policy analysis, develops national best-practice programs, and works to increase public awareness of family caregiving issues.  Under her leadership, the Alliance led many national research studies on caregiving across the lifespan, including the Caregiving in the U.S. series with AARP. Hunt supported the development of a national network of more than 80 caregiving coalitions in state and local communities. She also serves as the Chair of the International Alliance of Career Organizations, a global coalition of fifteen nations dedicated to advancing the needs of caregivers around the world. 

About the Awards

Arthur S. Flemming Award

Since 1978, NASUAD has chosen one individual in the field of Aging to receive the annual Arthur S. Flemming Award. Dr. Flemming spent years in public service, culminating with his role as the U.S. Commissioner on Aging. He served as the Commissioner on Aging until 1978. The core of what is now commonly called the national Aging Network, consisting of state agencies on aging, sub-state area agencies on aging and thousands of service providers grew out of his leadership. Dr. Flemming’s role in aging is well-known, but he was equally well known for his role in fighting for civil rights. Indeed, Dr. Flemming served as chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1974 to 1981. As depicted by those who knew and worked with him both in public life and in his many private roles, Mr. Flemming possessed a rare and perhaps unequaled combination of bureaucratic competence, compassion for the needy, and ability to inspire those around him to action.

Katie Beckett Award

Born with medical support needs, Katie spent the first years of her life in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Though her family and doctors wanted Katie to live at home, there was at that time, no Medicaid coverage for medical services provided in the community.  Fighting to bring her daughter home, Julie Beckett challenged this policy, and was ultimately successful in carving out an exception in the Medicaid program that allows children with disabilities to receive services in their homes and communities. Thanks to her mother’s tireless advocacy, on December 19, 1981, Katie moved home. Known as the “Katie Beckett Waiver” since its inception in 1982, this monumental policy shift has allowed more than 500,000 children to live at home and have access to the treatment they need. Since 2011, NASUAD has chosen an individual whose work has promoted the ideals of independence, dignity, and self-determination for individuals with disabilities to receive the Katie Beckett award.

ADvancing States Caregiver Award
In 2019, the ADvancing States board of directors voted to create an additional award that recognizes individuals who have shown exemplary leadership to support the caregivers of older adults and individuals with disabilities.  Family and friends who serve as caregivers provide important societal and financial contributions toward maintaining the well-being of individuals, yet the work is often overwhelming and many of these unpaid caregivers have little support to help them with their task.  This award recognizes those who work to improve the resources and supports available to help those caregivers as they assist their loved ones and help them remain in their home and communities.

About ADvancing States
ADvancing States was founded in 1964 under the name National Association of State Units on Aging (NASUA). In 2019, the association changed its name to ADvancing States. Today, ADvancing States represents the nation’s 56 state and territorial agencies on aging and disabilities and long-term services and supports directors.

CONTACT: Martha Roherty 202-898-2578