At its November meeting, the Commission on Aging presented the 2024 Peg Deaton Leadership in Aging Award.

The award recognizes volunteers in the community who have made outstanding contributions to enhance the quality of life for older adults and their families in Johnson County.

This year’s recipient is Rebecca Tsang. She is the co-founder and vice president of Fountain of Life, a nonprofit senior community center that targets services for limited English proficient Asian-language speaking seniors.

Because of her passion and generous investment of time, talent and treasure since 2022, Fountain of Life has touched the lives of nearly 200 Johnson County seniors and families, the majority of whom are limited English proficient immigrants, including naturalized citizens and permanent residents.

Rebecca volunteered countless hours to serve in a pro-bono program director role along with her various board duties. She organized senior field trips to the Matt Ross Community Center in Overland Park and the Jujube Orchard in Lawrence.

The 2024 Peg Deaton Leadership Award recipient served as a Mandarin interpreter on a tour of the community center as many of the seniors were visiting Matt Ross Community Center for the first time due to language barriers. She drove the passenger van to transport 15 seniors to the Jujube Orchard field trip in Lawrence.

She also organized two senior picnics at Shawnee Mission Park, a Lunar New Year potluck celebration for seniors, a Dim Sum lunch outing for seniors and a hot pot senior dinner social, along with her various board duties. Rebecca continues to volunteer her time and serve Fountain of Life as a Chinese translator and Mandarin interpreter.

Although retired and enjoying her golden years, Rebecca is still extremely active in serving the aging community. She is an older adult dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of other older adults in her community.

Her shining example of service and dedication has inspired other older adult peers from Johnson County’s Asian community to step up and do the same!