Soup for Seniors sets a goal of distributing 30,000 cans this January
VINTON–Sometimes for senior citizens the choice comes down to buying food, buying medication, or paying for heat. The Soup for Seniors program, sponsored by the Local Office on Aging (LOA) in collaboration with AARP, hopes to alleviate this problem for the elderly to some extent during the harsh winter months by collecting and distributing 30,000 cans of soup to more than 3,000 local residents this January.
AARP has over 25,000 members in the 5th Planning District, an area which extends from Craig County to Roanoke County to the Alleghany Highlands. Notices have been sent to those members asking for donations of soup and crackers to the Soup for Seniors campaign.
However, Soup for Seniors also needs the support of a generous community to realize their goal. Vinton residents are asked to help the 150 seniors who live in the Vinton area by bringing donations of soup and crackers to the Bank of America collection site at 201 South Pollard Street in downtown Vinton during the week of January 23-28..
Lorraine Bratton, Community Outreach Coordinator for AARP in the 5th Planning District, encourages Vinton residents to "help a neighbor in need" by donating cans of soup to the Soup for Seniors collection during the annual drive from January 23 to January 28. In Vinton, soup may be dropped off at the Bank of America on South Pollard Street.
The main Soup for Seniors collection site in the Roanoke Valley is the New Covenant Christian Church at 4807 Cove Road in Roanoke. All Bank of America sites in Roanoke, Daleville, and Westlake are accepting donations, as well as the local LOA at 706 Campbell Avenue in Roanoke.
AARP has funded flyers and postcards publicizing the event, and has donated crackers and the cloth bags that the food will be delivered in.
In addition to food donations, volunteers are needed to help collect the soup from the various sites, to bag the items in an assembly line format at the main collection site, and to then deliver those bags to Meals on Wheel sites, Diners Club locations, and senior independent living centers to be distributed. AARP would especially like to encourage younger seniors, who are more likely to be available during the collection hours of 9 am to 6 pm. to volunteer. Volunteers can call 540-345-0451 for details.
In past years the Soup for Seniors drive has been held in October. This year the LOA decided that it would best serve the community to distribute soup during the harsher months of winter and selected late January for the project. They chose the end of the month because often Social Security checks are running out for seniors at that time, and some cans of soup on the shelf may help tide them over until the beginning of February.
Once the soup is collected and delivered to the main site at New Covenant Christian Church, volunteers will gather to bag the soup and crackers for delivery by the LOA’s Meals on Wheels program, which delivers meals to homebound seniors. Current Meals on Wheels clients will be the first recipients, then residents of low-income independent living facilities. Soup will be shared in the Vinton area with residents at Clearview Manor and Morningside Manor.
In Vinton the Meals on Wheels site is located at Vinton Baptist Church. The program, with 10 sites in our area, delivers food to seniors Monday through Friday. The soup will supplement the regular hot meal that clients normally receive.
“For many clients, the lunchtime meal is the only meal they receive all day,” said Aimlee Lawson, Director of Public Relations for the LOA Area Agency on Aging.
The LOA contracts with Canteen Vending Services, who prepare meals according to a menu that meets nutritional guidelines. The vending service delivers meals to the individual sites and Meals on Wheels volunteers take them from there and deliver to individual homes. They also check on the seniors they deliver to each weekday, making sure there are no problems. On weekends no meals are distributed, so the soup and crackers will provide nourishment on those days when no deliveries are made.
“Soup is a meal that is easily prepared even by those incapacitated to some extent, and helps to keep seniors at home and independent as long as possible,” said Lorraine Bratton of Vinton, Community Outreach Coordinator for AARP in the 5th Planning District.
Numerous churches, businesses, and civic organizations have contributed to the Soup for Seniors program in the past. Girl Scout troops often adopt the program as one of their annual projects.
Information and other collection sites for Soup for Seniors can be found online at www.CreateTheGood.org and www.loaa.org. Monetary donations are welcome and can be mailed to Soup for Seniors, LOA Area Agency on Aging, PO Box 14205, Roanoke, Virginia 24038.
By Debbie Adams
