All proceeds stay within our facility and go to support our Home Delivered Meals & Senior Services. Home Delivered is a free Meals program offered to any citizen that lives within Washington County Virginia, and Bristol Virginia that is 80% homebound and disabled, regardless of age. We are a 501(c)10. We are a division of Senior Services Center, Inc. dba The Community Center of Abingdon, a 501(c)3
that has been in business since 1972. One of our purposes is to make sure that no one goes hungry in the small county community. We serve a population of over 55,000 in Washington County alone, not including the separate city of Bristol VA. All of our funding for Home Delivered Meals and Senior Services comes from Donations and the occasional grant that we can acquire. Below are some of the recipients of our Home Delivered Meals being delivered by the 501c3 PACE Organization that operates our of our Center. Our goals include intergeneration inclusion and education so that the non-tech generation can be taught by the tech generation how to stay in touch with their loved ones that have moved away. The money donated is applied as follows. Since it is a restricted donation to a specific program, the funds are used only for purposes directly related to the program. We purchase food, containers, pay the chef a portion of his salary based on how many hours he spends in preparing and packaging the meals, and a small percentage to the people out front handing out the food to our volunteer delivery drivers. This averages about 2 hours out of their paycheck twice a week so 4 hours a week is used from the donation to pay that portion of their salary. We defray the costs as much as possible by partnering with other similar entities like Feeding Southwest Virginia and Walmart, Sam's Club and Sheets. The largest expenses that are reoccurring are the chef’s hours and the secondary most expensive part runs right up there next to it. We have to purchase, often at retail (even tax free they are close to 50 cents a container) and we shop online and at stores for the best prices. Another expense is a portion of the bills to run the electricity, sewage and cleaning/sterilizing agents. The percentage of it on average is 10% of the bills where the Center pays the remainder from our general use funds. Donations are the life’s blood of our organization that has kept us open this 40+ years and we hope to continue our good work going forward. Even before the COVID crisis hit, our numbers of recipients had increased steadily to approximately 125 families receiving 4 meals a week. With the onset of COVID, that number has climbed to 800 meals a week as people confine themselves to their homes. The difference between our program and the national program is the age requirements. We removed the age requirement because there are many people that may need help and are not yet of senior age. For example, we have a lady in her 40’s with 2 kids with brain cancer, we have a veteran from the war that returned with PTSD and missing limbs, we cannot in good conscious turn these people away. That is just one of the requirements of the National Meals on Wheels that is more geared towards seniors than the hungry. All our funds come from donations and the occasional grant we can slip into. Grants are difficult to get until you make a single in rode that can get a reoccurring grant each year. For us, that was United Way until they changed over their focus to children. The trend with the towns and counties has always been towards cutting costs with the non-profits the first on the list. We went from 110,000 a year from the town years ago to literally 0 for next year. Thank the lord that the Washington County Board saw fit not to follow suit or we would have lost their 25,000 a year as well. Those funds are intended to operate the center but most of the time they are used to supplement Caring Cuisines shortfalls. We need your help in keeping this almost 50-year institute that helps all ages to stay in business so we can continue to grow and expand our services rather than cut the vital ones we already have in place. Our invisible population (those that are 80% homebound) are rarely seen and rarely heard. We need to be their voice and their safety check until we can get them into the technology age where they can check in with family and make social connections. If you want more information on what we already do, look at our website at www.theccoa.org or you can contact the center and speak to the Executive Director for upcoming plans waiting for funding and grants to come in. Any support, contacts or suggestions you can provide is greatly appreciated. You can donate directly by check by sending it to 300 Senior Drive NE, Abingdon, VA 24210. Via Pay Pal at https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=L7TC6ADDCTTVN
Or on Facebook, or our website www.theccoa.org
All donations are tax deductible, and a letter will be sent to everyone regardless of the amount donation.
