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Pittsburgh, PA
Change City

AARP Volunteers Celebrate “Livable Communities” Through Gingerbread Competition

Posted on 12/02/24

Pittsburgh-area AARP volunteers Beth Tomasovic, Cheryl Lenhart, Terry Gerst, and Cathy Schwartzmiller used their design skills to create a “Livable Communities for People of All Ages” Gingerbread neighborhood for the City of Pittsburgh’s 22nd Annual Gingerbread Competition.

The gingerbread creations serve as a reminder of what it means to live in a community designed for people of all ages. Through their entry, the volunteers creatively showcased the principles of livability, illustrating a neighborhood with features like walkable streets, and accessible homes. This delightful design is more than just a festive display—it’s a celebration of AARP’s mission to foster thriving communities for everyone, regardless of age.

Three gingerbread houses connected with a walkway, displaying bikes and a bus.
Gingerbread houses created by AARP PA volunteers

AARP Livable Communities supports the efforts of neighborhoods, towns, rural areas, and cities like Pittsburgh to be great places for people of all ages and the volunteers wanted to educate community members of the importance of this initiative. AARP believes that communities should provide safe, walkable streets, age-friendly housing and transportation options. access to needed services, and opportunities for residents of all ages to participate in community life. AARP and our volunteers work locally to educate and inspire elected officials, local leaders, planners and citizen activists about how to identify their community's specific needs and then create and implement the programs, policies and projects that will help meet those needs. This work is crucial to the majority of Americans who say they would like to remain in their homes as they age.

This year, AARP’s local efforts to promote livable communities has involved Walk Audits to assess community walkability in Pittsburgh’s 31st Ward, local advocacy efforts to support the City’s affordable housing and traffic safety efforts, and participation in key initiatives like the City’s “Complete Streets Advisory Group” and “Pittsburgh Week Without Driving” to ensure the needs of adults 50+ are taken into consideration in local planning.

Online voting for the City of Pittsburgh Gingerbread Competition’s People’s Choice Award is now open! To lend your support to AARP Pittsburgh and to making our city more livable for all, vote here by Dec. 31st. Locate the “2024 People’s Choice Award” voting button on the page. For category, choose “Nonprofit 18+” and then select the first choice on the list to vote for the “AARP Livable Community for People of All Ages” from AARP Pittsburgh.

All gingerbread designs entered in the competition are on display in the City-County Building, 414 Grant Street, Pittsburgh until early January 2025.
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