How Your Donation Helps:

• It costs nearly $10 per meal to provide Meals on Wheels to homebound elderly. In 2021, LOA served 120,808 meals to 12,040 persons. This is a significant increase in numbers due to seniors being more isolated during the pandemic.
• It costs an average of $68 per trip to provide Transportation to the doctor and other vital appointments. This includes assisted and unassisted trips to the doctor and grocery and pharmacy trips. In 2021, LOA made 22,466 one-way trips to transport 4,409 persons. The costs to provide this service has risen drastically and there continues to be a substantial waiting list for this vital service.
• It costs just over $10 per person to provide Emergency Services such as the provision of canes and walkers, Cooling Assistance and LOA’s Emergency Food Pantry. In 2021, LOA helped 8,853 seniors obtain emergency services. In addition, more than 2,300 bags of food were delivered during Soup for Seniors.
• LOA’s Personal Care and Homemaker services currently serve nearly 100 clients per year. However, they maintain a waiting list of nearly triple that number.
• In 2022, LOA’s Insurance Counselors assisted 2,361 seniors with their Medicare Part D Plans and Medicare enrollment.
• 525 persons were able to find resources in their community to help them stay in their own homes after spending time in the hospital through LOA’s Care Transitions.
• LOA provided 176 hours of service to help seniors with their Legal needs such as creating Power of Attorney documents and Living Wills.

With more than 32 community based services, LOA continues to strive to fulfill its mission of helping older persons remain independent for as long as possible. But we can’t do it alone. We will use donations to fill the plate of services where it is most needed. Examples of how your donation helps:

• $1,000 to assist more than 10 seniors with Legal Assistance
• $500 to assist one senior with in-home care
• $250 to assist 25 people with emergency services
• $100 to assist with vital trips to the doctor or pharmacy
• $25 for a day of Meals on Wheels and Diners Clubs

Diners decorate tree

The Star City Diners Club, which meets at the LOA Center for Health and Wellness, made ornaments and decorated a Christmas tree for the new center. We think it looks very festive! LOA hosts Diners Clubs for needy seniors so they can meet for socialization, lunch, and activities.

Barbara Clayborne honored

LOA's own, Barbara Clayborne, was honored last month during the Friendship Foundation Vision & Values Awards held at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. Barbara is the site supervisor for the Southwest Meals on Wheels site and does tremendous things for the clients and volunteers. Barbara was nominated by one of her Meals on Wheels volunteers and was one of four community members honored for accountability, compassion, positivity, respectfulness, and teamwork in the community. We think she's pretty special and are glad others see it, too.

LOA held receptions last month for those who volunteer with our nutrition programs: Meals on Wheels, Diners Clubs, and Senior Food Boxes. The first reception was held as an open house for those in the Roanoke area at the new LOA Center for Health and Wellness. More than 200 of our volunteers enjoyed door prizes, candy bouquets, t-shirts, and a delicious boxed lunch.

The second was held as a drive through for our Alleghany area volunteers. 150 Alleghany area volunteers were provided lunch by Cucci's Pizzeria and each volunteer received an LOA T-shirt.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of LOA! Thank you to all of our loyal volunteers — you make it all happen and LOA is incredibly grateful to each and every one of you!