Programs...
Our association works in cooperation with
local social service agencies and volunteer agencies to ensure that our
programs do not duplicate those already in place.
The six current programs administered from our offices at
701 Clay Street
are:
Emergency Assistance:
IOA provides assistance to those who are faced with a utility cutoff
or eviction/foreclosure from their homes.
We also provide groceries and other basic necessities for those who
lack the ability to buy them.
Emergency Fuel Assistance Program for the
Elderly (EFAPE):
IOA provides heating assistance to those 60 years of age or older.
Generally, these people are on a fixed income and have no means to
improve their situation.
Furniture
and Furnishings:
Provides good, usable furniture to those who are unable to afford the
cost of basic furnishings. We
require a home visit by an IOA representative to assess that the need is
genuine before we agree to distribute any furniture.
It is the only free furniture program in the area.
IOA uses volunteers to pick up furniture from donors and deliver it
to our warehouse on Jefferson Street. The
clients are responsible for picking it up at the warehouse.
Visually
Impaired: Provides
resources for clients to make and sell baskets and provide a social outlet
as well. The group of men and
women meet weekly on Thursdays from September through May at Chestnut
Hill
Baptist
Church
(across from Chestnut Hill Bakery) from
9 a.m.
to
2 p.m.
with our program coordinator.
IOA volunteers provide transportation and lunch each week.
IOA provides their supplies.
Progressive
Release:
Provide men and women detained in The Blue Ridge Regional Jail
Authority the life skills necessary to successfully reenter society with the
goal of decreasing the chances of returning to jail.
Part of the program includes having inmates write letters to children
incarcerated at the Juvenile
Detention
Center, telling them why they do not want to go to the
adult jail. The inmates also
read books on tape and mail them to their own children.
Younger children hear their parents’ voice as they listen to a good
book on tape. Older children,
after listening to their parents’ read the first chapter of the book, are
encouraged to finish reading the book on their own.
This fosters the parent/child relationship during the incarceration.
Life
Skills for the Street Smart:
We provide life skills classes and outside activities to the youth at
the Juvenile
Detention
Center. The
goal is to improve their chances of being successful in society upon their
release and help build their self esteem.
They have planted and grown a vegetable garden at
Camp
Kum-Ba-Yah
, one of our partners, for the past two summers.
