The Central Virginia Area Agency on Aging will receive about $100,000 in federal stimulus funds to provide meals for low-income seniors.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services allocated a total of $2.2 million for Virginia’s 25 Agencies on Aging as part of a stimulus package to benefit nutrition programs at senior centers throughout the country. Linda Nablo, commissioner of the Virginia Department for the Aging, expects the funds to be released within two weeks.
“Seniors are being hit really hard by this economy, most Area Agencies on Aging are seeing and increased need for services,” Nablo said. “This money should help ease that.”
Dan Farris, executive director of CVAAA, said the funds will provide a significant boost to the agency’s budget, which was about 2.7 million dollars last year.
“If I had to take that in a cut it would be devastating,” Farris said. “As an additional source of funding, it’s great.”
Farris hopes to use the money to reduce the waiting list for the agency’s home-delivered meal service.
Currently, there are 133 people on the waiting list — some have been waiting for as long as year. Demand for home-delivered meals increased about ten percent in the past year due to an aging population and the recession, Farris said.
“The folks we serve primarily are on fixed income,” Farris said. “It’s more difficult on them with an economy like this.”
The CVAAA provides meals and other support services to seniors in Lynchburg and the surrounding counties. Last year, they delivered 90,440 meals to 854 clients.
In November, the agency moved to a new headquarters at the intersection of 12th and Madison streets, the culmination of two years worth of fundraising, planning and construction.
It is in the process of raising money for the last element of their headquarters, a community kitchen, which Farris does not think will qualify for the federal funds.
The kitchen would allow CVAAA to switch from hot meals to chilled meals, giving drivers more time to deliver the food. Farris said the kitchen will allow the agency to reach more seniors, especially in the rural areas.
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