Center will use money on software to improve scheduling, communication, and data processing
Habersham County Senior Center has been awarded a grant from the Thanks Mom & Dad Fund. The charity honors parents, grandparents, and mentors by supporting programs and services for older adults.
Habersham was among 53 senior centers across Georgia that received a Senior Center Innovation mini-grant. These grants, in partnership with the Georgia Department of Human Services, allow centers to update facilities and offer new programs.
Software for senior care
The Habersham County Senior Center will receive $2,000. The center will use the money on software created specifically for Senior Center management, according to director Kathy Holcomb.
“We will soon be able to track our clients as they use a touch screen to identify activities and programs they will participate in during their visit,” she explains.
The system will also make communicating with seniors by phone easier and more efficient. Senior center staff will be able to generate one message and send it out to multiple recipients, as opposed to calling each person individually.
The new management system will also help with mapping routes for Meals on Wheels and transit pick up.
“Most importantly we can quickly identify reliable demographics and stats on our clients to assist enrollment for community programs, and when applying for grants and funding,” adds Holcomb.
Filling in the gaps
The county allocates an annual budget to the Senior Center but the facility also relies on grants, gifts, and sponsorships. This revenue mix “is the best way to ensure our sustainability for goals and projects that enrich the lives of our seniors and volunteers,” Holcomb says.
The Thanks Mom & Dad Fund distributed more than $130,000 for grants this year to fill the funding gap faced by programs serving older Georgians and their caregivers.
“We are excited to partner again with the Department of Human Services to update senior centers across Georgia and offer new programs,” says the charity’s president and board chair Maureen Kelly. “We are proud to help test new programs and modernize senior centers in local communities,” adds director of DHS’s Division of Aging Services Abby Cox.
In two years, Thanks Mom & Dad and DHS have distributed more than $200,000 in grants to 87 senior centers across Georgia. The centers have used the money to buy new equipment, create assistive technology labs and establish new programs, such as therapeutic drumming circles and virtual senior centers.
