Former Gov. Nathan Deal and his wife, Sandra Deal, will be honored in a Nov. 11 ceremony by the Gainesville-Hall County Community Council on Aging for work benefiting older adults.

Phillippa Lewis Moss, the council’s administrative director, said the couple’s pro-education efforts — the governor saving the HOPE scholarship and Sandra Deal’s reading to children statewide — should go a long way in helping future generations.

“We believe we’re only as good as the young people who are there to provide support to us as we age, so having a well-educated workforce is important,” Moss said.

And through an annual recognition ceremony, “we want to honor people whose life’s work is designed to improve our quality of life — the general public as well as older adults,” she said.

The plan is to have a few people speak at the ceremony about how they personally were affected by programs and initiatives under Deal’s 8-year stint as governor.

One of the speakers will be a HOPE scholar who, without the scholarship, a degree at Georgia Tech “would not have been a predictable outcome of her life,” Moss said.

The event is taking place at the Ramsey Conference Center, 2535 Lanier Tech Drive, Gainesville, with $40 tickets still available. Proceeds will go toward Meals on Wheels and the Senior Life Center programs.

The council began in the 1980s with a group of volunteers who saw a need for a nutrition service for older adults and spent time preparing and packaging meals, Moss said.

It incorporated in 1983, and its first project creating The Guest House, a daytime medical care and activity center for seniors at 360 Oak St., Gainesville.

“Since that time, (the council) has been a general advocate for aging issues in our community, the need for caregivers and the need for support for caregivers,” Moss said.