Gifts are stacked nearly out the door, and the back room is filled with food donations for Johnson County seniors in need.
Johnson County Senior Services, an organization dedicated to helping struggling seniors, has been blessed with a slew of recent donations. But at the same time, the influx of food donations and 600 gifts for their annual present drive has once again highlighted their need for more space, director Kim Smith said.
“We have been space challenged before. I have never seen it like this,” she said.
The agency is continuing its fundraising drive for a new building, with a new focus.
Instead of looking to raise $360,000 in a short period of time, they are now extending that drive and asking donors to help them with a new goal: raising $50,000 by March 16 in order to win a matching grant.
If their campaign is a success, the agency will have raised at least $181,000, including donations that have already come in, toward a new building by mid-March, Smith said. That money would be enough to construct a building that would definitely suit the agency’s needs, Smith said.
Senior Services is still hoping to get the original building they had been hoping to buy, which had more room and indoor garage space for their vehicles, and the owner has extended the deadline to buy the property to mid-January. But other options are also out there, such as if someone wanted to donate land where they could build or if another facility is available, and officials are open to multiple ideas, Smith said.
The matching grant, which is coming from an Indianapolis organization that wanted to remain anonymous, would be a big help toward that, she said.
Now, their focus is on asking donors to help them meet that $50,000 goal in the next 90 days, and they are confident they can meet that, especially after getting a little more than $8,000 in donations in the last week, she said.
“We still have great faith, we have always had great faith,” Smith said.
The last week has also served as a reminder of why the new building is needed to replace their current location in a historic home off State Street, on the Compass Park — formerly the Indiana Masonic Home — campus.
They are working to deliver gifts to 600 local seniors, stacking them wherever there is room. And in the last several days, they received food and other donations from the Center Grove Robotics Club, the Franklin Chamber of Commerce and Marsh. They are working to get food deliveries out as fast as they can to make sure people have what they need before Christmas, but also because they are running out of space to store the donations, Smith said.
“We have the most amazing community, but the needs are great and we have to get into a position to help more people,” Smith said.
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Johnson County Senior Services is raising money for a new building. Here is how you can help:
Donate online at http://jcseniorservices.org/
Mail or bring donations to: Johnson County Senior Services, 731 S. State St., Franklin, IN 46131
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