WHEREAS, Maine is fortunate to have over 388,000 people aged 60 and over who contribute skills, talent, wisdom, and experience to our great State; and

WHEREAS, the number of older adults in Maine is increasing and becoming a larger portion of the State’s population; and

WHEREAS, established in 2022, the Maine Cabinet on Aging is working to advance policies that will support Maine people in aging safely, affordably, and in ways and settings that best serve individual needs and preferences; and

WHEREAS, Maine recognizes the valuable role of caregivers and the need to create a community that offers the services and supports older adults need and prefer in later life; and

WHEREAS, an estimated 166,000 family caregivers in Maine provided approximately 155,000,000 hours of care worth more than $2.9 billion in 2021; and

WHEREAS, communities benefit when people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds can participate fully with the highest level of independence; and

WHEREAS, Maine can work to build better communities for older people by exposing aging stereotypes; emphasizing the many positive aspects of aging; making it possible for older adults to benefit from all that communities offer; and embracing age diversity;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2023 as

Older Americans Month

Throughout the State of Maine, and I urge all Maine citizens to celebrate aging and older people to help create a fully inclusive and equitable society that benefits us all.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this twenty first day of April Two Thousand Twenty-Three