Thank You Wakulla County

The Wakulla County Senior Citizens Center serves our older population at a cost that greatly exceeds our grants.  These added costs for our seniors are supported by donations from our community, United Way, fund raising activities and County Commission.  Our economy at the local and national level has been in a free-fall for some time and the end of this down turn is not in sight.  This makes our board and administrators very insecure.  However, our income has not lost ground.  Many of our larger contributors have reduced the amount of their contributions but several friends and neighbors are mailing us more small checks than in the past.  It appears that individuals in our community are aware of our potential loss of funding and are concerned enough to begin sending contributions to us.  You are invited to join their effort to be a part of this solution.  This supports everything I’ve said in the past about how wonderful it is to live in Wakulla County where people care so much for their neighbors.

A free Thanksgiving dinner was provided to the citizens of Wakulla County.  There were 490 free turkey dinners served in the senior center on that Tuesday, November 25th.  The funding for this event was provided by Wakulla Bank, Ameris Bank, Humana, VFW Post 4538, Anita Townsend, Brent Thurmond and some senior center employees that choose to remain anonymous.  Volunteers were in great supply.  There were so many wanting to help.  Tina Reason from Second Harvest Food Bank came to help and brought over 300 loaves of bread from the food bank and three cases of fruit that she personally purchased. It was such a pleasure to provide this dinner and observe all those that volunteer and donate the resources necessary for this event.

This article is being written about two weeks before Christmas.  We have already received almost 200 gift packages from Ray and Terry Smith for our home-bound seniors.  Ray told me that their home and all their belongings burned a few years ago.  Friends and neighbors gave them so much that he had to ask them to stop.  Since that time, Ray and Terri have given so much to so many that their generosity cannot be measured.  They just keep giving. 

The churches, Christmas Connection , 4-H club, our board and staff, Home Instead’s “Be a Santa” program, Area Agency’s “Adopt a Senior” program, and several individuals have already scheduled to bring in gifts for all seniors that are served by our center.  Seniors will be entertained by various groups such as the P&G Band, Wakulla Middle School Band, Reba Mason with her Silver Belles and Santa Clause.  They will be served a brunch Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

This is a special time of the year.  Gifts are great.  The greatest gift you can give is your time, especially to your family.  2009 will be here and gone before you complete all your plans.  The Board of Directors, staff, volunteers and senior citizens wish you a wonderful year in 2009.  If you live in Wakulla County you are already strides ahead of the rest of the world for a special year.

This article originally published on December 14, 2008.

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Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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