Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Board Member Anne Olson honored for lifetime of service

Board member Anne Olson was honored at the 5th Annual Georgia's Legacy: Older Women Active and Alive Past Sixty-Five Awards Luncheon. It was presented by the Georgia Commission on Women, the Georgia Women's Institute, and the Georgia Osteoporosis Initiative.

As described in the program, the luncheon honors
ten outstanding Georgia women who, though past the usual age of retirement, are
still significantly involved and productive

It was a great event and very inspiring for those of us under the age of sixty-five, to see vibrant and vital women into their 80's who are continuing a lifetime of achievement. It certainly gave me something to strive for.

Here is Ms. Olson's biographical statement from the program. At RWN we are extremely fortunate to have someone as talented, committed, and accomplished on our board of directors.

Anne Olson, a feminist/scholar/activist, focusing on gender economic and racial
human rights, retired in 1999 from Emory University School of Nursing, where she
taught nutritiion, after working twenty-five years as federal program
administration for Georgia Department of Education. A member of Atlanta Living Wage Steering Committee, she continues efforts to raise the minimum wage, especially for home healthcare workers, though the Georgia Legislature has yet to approve it! She serves as a planner, fundraiser and facilitator for the leadership team of Project South. She worked on logistics and outreach for last summer's event sponsored by the US Social Forum, attended by 15,000 grass roots organizers, coordinated Amnesty International's Stop Violence against Women campaign, serves on the boards of Women Watch Afrika and Refugee Women's Network. She has worked on Poor People's Day at the Capitol and the Up & Out of Poverty Coalition since 1999. She received the Gerry Conroy Human Rights Activist Award from the Georgia Coalition on Hunger "for her tireless work on human rights, gender equity, racial and economic justice." Anne lives in East Lake Commons, edits the communtiy newsletter, and participates in the Neighborhood Connections and Affordability Committees. She has two children and three grandchildren who live in Boston and West Palm Beach.