The South Florida Institute on Aging (SoFIA) will host the Second Annual SoFIA Celebrates presented by BB&T on Friday, February 8 from 6 – 9 p.m. at the W Fort Lauderdale, 401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd.

The Think Award presented by Kaufman Rossin will be bestowed upon LGBTQ activist Scott Bennett. In addition to sitting on the board of SAGE USA, which focuses on advocacy and services for LGBTQ elders nationwide, Bennett is vice chair of Our Fund Foundation, the nation’s third largest LGBTQ community foundation, which focuses on improving the quality of life for South Florida’s LGBTQ community. He is also a member of the screening committee for OutShine Film Festival, the preeminent GLBTQ film festival in South Florida, and is an activist volunteer for Equality Florida.

The Act Award presented by Sunshine Health will honor Citrix, a Fort Lauderdale-based, global software company, who helped fund SoFIA’s inaugural program called Senior Planet. Citrix also provided Chrome books for the award-winning program which trains seniors to use technology to improve and enhance their social and civic engagement.

Broward Center for the Performing Arts President and CEO Kelley Shanley will receive the Thrive Award presented by AARP in recognition of the Center’s robust usher program which engages nearly 900 volunteers, the majority of whom are seniors, as well as the Center’s performing arts classes where they are demonstrating that our seniors have talent.

SoFIA’s valued volunteers also will be recognized for their service to the organization during the festive, rooftop cocktail reception which includes a silent auction and live musical entertainment.

Sponsors include W Fort Lauderdale, Sunshine Health, AARP, Kauffman Rossin and Pierson Grant Public Relations.

Tickets to the benefit are $90 and are available at TheSofia.org. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Diane Smith at 954.484.7117, dsmith@thesofia.org.