With Veterans Day coming up this Saturday, a number of businesses and organizations are finding new ways to honor our servicemen and women and their families this week. For example:

Carnival Cruise Line has invited local veterans to board the Carnival Miracle ship in Long Beach on Tuesday for a lunch and a special military tribute. The cruise company is hosting similar events all week at different ports across the country.

California State Parks is offering free admission for all military veterans, reservists and active-duty personnel to 144 state parks on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Among area parks with the free-entry offer: Leo Carrillo State Park; Los Angeles State Historic Park, Malibu Creek State Park and Will Rogers State Historic Park. A full list is on the state parks website.

Southern California Gas Co. volunteers on Thursday will help Project Angel Food prepare and distribute “dinner and a movie” gift bags to 161 clients who have served in the armed forces. The bags will include food, socks, some personal hygiene items along with popcorn and three movies.

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Mary Akpovi has retired from the accounting firm she co-founded, formerly called Martini Akpovi Partners, but she is still finding new heights to scale. Literally.

At age 72, she climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in early September. It took six days, including one day of rest halfway up. At more than 19,300 feet above sea level, it is Africa’s highest point and well above the nearly14,500-foot-height of California’s Mount Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states.

Why? She said she wanted to give thanks. “And so I decided I would climb Mount Kilimanjaro and just express gratitude to God all the way up, and I did. It’s so easy to forget to focus on the many blessings in our lives.”

Akpovi still works as an accountant part-time, but she dedicates much of her time to charity. 

“I am actually packing bags to travel to Bucharest (Romania) and Moldova in December to distribute much-needed winter clothing, shoes, first-aid packages, etc., to Ukrainian refugees who fled there. I was to be in Jerusalem (recently) on a mission trip, but the war took care of that…I will do it at God’s appointed time.”

The Insider is compiled by Editor-in-Chief Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].