By PAM HARRIS
Community Outreach Director, Real Services, Inc.

The deadline to nominate someone for one of the 19th annual Age of Excellence Award is 4 p.m. Friday, April 3.

Each year, REAL Services honors unsung heroes in Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaPorte, Marshall and St. Joseph counties. These heroes are spouses, sons, daughters, neighbors, etc. who give of themselves to care for the elderly and disabled in our communities. Nominations are being accepted for six award categories: Business of the Year, Caregiver of the Year, Professional of the Year, Volunteer Group of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and the Hoosier Lifetime Award.

Each nominee will receive a complimentary reservation to the luncheon and a certificate acknowledging their kind acts to those in need. The 2015 Age of Excellence Awards Luncheon will be held on Thursday, May 14, at the Century Center in South Bend.

Doors open at 11 a.m. with lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. The keynote speaker will be Leeza Gibbons who recently won on the Celebrity Apprentice TV show.

On the live finale of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice, which aired Monday, Feb. 16, Gibbons was the grand prize winner. As Emmy Award winner Leeza faced off with Fox News legend Geraldo Rivera for the title, Donald Trump admitted to her that he was “surprised you made it this far.”

“Leeza, it’s an amazing thing. Everybody loved you – everybody – and yet you lead,” Trump told her before declaring her the winner.  “You lead with kindness – I don’t see these people in New York, I see brutal, brutal killers, I don’t meet people like you,” Trump continued. “You really do have tremendous talent and tremendous leadership ability.”

Gibbons, who has received AARP’s Annual Inspire Award and was named the “Voice of the Caregiver”, raised money throughout the season, along with an extra $250,000 for the season win, for her charity, Leeza’s Care Connection, supporting people with Alzheimer’s disease.

For more information about the nomination categories and to make a nomination or luncheon reservation, visit the REAL Services website at www.realservices.org or call (574) 284-7104 or email [email protected].