Senior Resources has earned Outstanding Philanthropic Large Nonprofit and Outstanding Fundraising Executive Large Nonprofit honors from the Association of Fundraising Professional Central South Carolina Chapter for the 2020 AFP Honors National Philanthropy Day Awards.
Senior Resources was awarded the Outstanding Philanthropic Large Nonprofit for the commitment to meeting the nutritional needs of all senior citizens, no matter their income level, when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March. The most vulnerable in this pandemic, senior citizens faced food insecurity prompting an increase in calls for help by more than 500 percent this spring. Senior Resources implemented an Emergency Senior Nutrition Program, to help feed seniors in Richland County five free meals per week at four locations throughout the county. Due to the growing demand for nutritional services, Senior Resources partnered with 15 other agencies and expanded the program statewide in April. The program provided more than 340,000 meals in three months. To fund the program, Senior Resources raised $2.5 million, nearly doubling the budget of the organization in just 12 weeks.
Andrew Boozer, Executive Director at Senior Resources was awarded the Outstanding Fundraising Executive Large Nonprofit for his outstanding leadership not only at Senior Resources, but through his development and implementation of the Emergency Senior Nutrition Program. He secured corporate, group and individual donors to provide financial security for this program. His guidance and vision in the midst of a crisis enabled his staff and volunteers to safely navigate the roll-out of an emergency program all while protecting themselves during the pandemic.
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina won Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation and was nominated by Senior Resources, Inc. and the University of South Carolina for their commitment to addressing food insecurity in South Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic. A joint collaboration between BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation enabled Senior Resources to expand our Emergency Senior Nutrition Program to 14 additional counties in the state to provide more than 245,000 meals to 10,000 seniors from May to June. In addition, BlueCross BlueShield of SC’s funding to the USC School of Medicine’s FoodShareSC program, provided more than 70,000 fresh food boxes that were distributed to vulnerable citizens across the state.
