ElderPoint Ministries Continues Services Despite Economic Downturn

ElderPoint Ministries of Greater Lakeland is a non-profit agency committed to serving nutrition and transportation needs of elderly Polk County residents, with a goal of meeting seniors at their point of need. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for senior residents of Polk County through empowering services that support healthy, independent living.

The ministry delivered 45 hot meals Thursday from Mission BBQ to clients in Winter Haven and Lakeland and continued its Medical and shopping trips.

Like other organizations and families, we are suffering an immediate economic impact due to lost revenue from shutdowns. Additionally, we had several fundraisers planned for the coming weeks that must now be put on hold. All this is happening during a time our transportation services for Medical and shopping trips are even more critical to our senior community.

One of our key services is providing transportation (including wheelchair accessible rides) for Medical appointments and basic needs. During this pandemic, it is increasingly important to ensure seniors can access Medical care for chronic conditions, buy groceries during "safe shopping hours," and get to their pharmacy. Our drivers are background-checked and have received training for dealing with COVID-19.

However, we have had to suspend revenue-producing services, such as mobile produce markets and transportation to the County's congregate dining sites, because of Covid-19 restrictions. This loss of revenue has created a budgetary shortfall that threatens our ability to continue transportation services.

In addition, we are working with local restaurants to provide free meal delivery to our seniors in place of the congregate dining meals. We know other needs will arise for which ElderPoint will be uniquely positioned to help our isolated seniors.

We know this amazing community is coming together to protect our seniors. We ask for a donation of any amount, so ElderPoint can continue to meet seniors at the point of their need. Donations can be made at https://elderpoint.org/donate. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.