Give4Good snapshot:

• Tuesday, May 6 – midnight to midnight
• 24-hour online giving marathon
• Your online contributions help make us eligible for matching funds and great incentives!
• Here’s the CvilleVillage donation page – bookmark it! – the donation link will be live at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning!

On May 6, our community foundation, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, will participate in the national celebration of 2014 as the 100th anniversary of the first community foundation. Ever since 1914, communities have raised money to support programs and services that improve their quality of life.

In 1914, the average American life expectancy was in the mid-50s. But those born in that time period who lived into their sixties and longer often found themselves the last one of their circle of family and friends. Funerals and memorial services were the times when they encountered old acquaintances, and the number got smaller and smaller.

At least fifty percent of the  Baby-boomers can expect to live well into their seventies, eighties, nineties and longer.  The most significant changes of the twentieth century– our love affair with the automobile, the percentage of Americans who own their own home, often at some distance from their family, and the medical advances that have engendered longer lives — have also made living longer more challenging. We are dependent on our cars to get to stores, doctor appointments, leisure events. Our homes were built and purchased to support our raising families and often are inhospitable to those who struggle with stairs and bathtubs and yards.

And much as our arthritic hips and legs ache and weaken, as much as our congested hearts want to push the lawnmower around the yard, our hearts are with our homes. We want to stay there.

What does this have to do with Give4Good?

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation is sponsoring Give4Good, and inviting any area non-profit organization to participate. Those organizations will have a residence on the CACF website, and area residents and businesses can donate right on the CACF website. It’s very similar to making an on-line purchase. And the idea is that donors can make small donations of $5 or more. It’s an opportunity for CvilleVillage to catch the eye of more area residents as well as an opportunity to raise money.

CvilleVillage has as its mission “Supporting neighbors helping neighbors age successfully in their homes and communities.” We are working to develop a Village that meets the needs of our residents, whether it’s a need to have a ceiling light bulb changed, or one’s trash toter taken to and from the curb, or a group with which to go out for lunch.

While a cornerstone of Villages is services provided by volunteers, there is a cost associated with belonging to a Village. A huge expense for Villages is insurance: liability insurance for volunteers, background checks for volunteers, insurance for Village directors and officers. After all, if you don’t know your neighbor, it’s important that we be sure that that a Village neighbor is truly a neighbor in intent and spirit.

Other costs include software costs of operating a website, vetting service providers and volunteers. Some needs may require members to pay an amount to cover the costs of the services involved. For example, if a Member wanted someone to transport and accompany him or her to a doctor appointment to hear the doctor’s recommendations and help to see those recommendations through, that would take someone with special skills. However, it would be considerably less expensive than the day or more in the hospital that might result if the doctor’s recommendations weren’t followed. Further, CvilleVillage is committed to ensuring that its services are available to all residents who have needs that cannot be met with other programs. So we also need to build the resources to cover those whose incomes are so limited as to make membership impossible.

So, on May 6, log on to givegreatercville.org, and navigate to TJPDC Corporation’s Leaderboard page, and give to the extent you are able. It’s a way of helping your community to remain strong. And that’s what communities, and community foundations,are all about.