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The Hancock County Agency on Aging (HCAOA), also known as the “Senior Center” has been in operation since 1970. It was incorporated as a non-profit organization in October of 1970 by a group of concerned citizens who wanted to support independence for Hancock County seniors in the areas of general welfare, well-being, housing, health and nutrition. It was at this time the Mobile Meals program was established, as well as the activities and outreach programs.
History In 1972, it became a United Way agency and was able to develop such programs as Chore Services, Outreach Services and collaborative programs with other community agencies. The Agency was also able to grow in the number of enrichment activities being offered to the senior population of Hancock County. In 2002, the voters of Hancock County voted to fund the expansion of Agency services by passing the Senior Services Levy. This funding, which became available in 2003, has enabled us to greatly expand our services and activities to area seniors. For example, in 2002, Chore Services performed 1630 hours of service for seniors. By 2004, that number had jumped to 10,278 hours of chore services (an increase of 631%). The levy funding has enabled the Agency to completely withdraw from United Way funding for the service year 2005, leaving that funding for other worthy programs in our community.
Funding: While levy, government and grant funding sources go a long way to providing much needed services to area seniors, it is not enough to satisfy the need. Donations are doubly significant to us: first, because they allow us to help more seniors; but more importantly, because we know they come from the hearts of people who support us in our mission to serve our elder community. Want to know how you can help? Click Here for more information on Donations to HCAOA or Click Here for information on Volunteer Opportunities.
Facilities:
Growing Pains: Our current facility has served us well since 1977, however, our dramatic growth over the last few years has us feeling a bit squeezed in all of our program areas. First, we need more space for activities, group programming and meetings since we often have more than one activity happening at a time. We also need more space for wellness services and programming. Our kitchen has become very “cozy” since bringing food preparation for Mobile Meals in-house. A larger, more efficiently designed kitchen with higher capacity commercial grade appliances would be a blessing. In the meantime, we are excited about the increased number of people we are able to serve and the improved freshness and quality of the meals we offer. The expansion of chore services has put the squeeze on space for our chore workers, too. Our equipment shed is bursting at the seams with snow blowers, chainsaws, garden tools and power equipment necessary to perform work for our clients. In an ideal world, we would also have a workshop where our workers could perform repairs or craft needed parts for the work we do. Also, our staff has maxed out our office space. While we’ve been creative in finding ways to share workspaces and stagger working hours, we’ve reached our limit. We will have a difficult time finding functional workspace for future employees without taking much needed space from another program or activity area. We are presently researching several options, but of course, how soon we can expand into much needed larger quarters will largely depend upon being able to grow the needed funding. To see how you can help, Click Here for our Donations page or Click Here for Volunteer Opportunities.
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