Vicar’s Landing donates Toyota SUV to Council on Aging

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Vicar’s Landing donated a 2013 Toyota Venza SUV on Thursday, April 26 to the St. Johns County Council on Aging (COA) to enhance the organization’s Meals on Wheels program, and to transport health professionals throughout St. Johns County who care for elders in their homes.

"We have a need for vehicles to help us deliver meals," COA Executive Director Becky Yanni said. "We do the home delivery of meals to homebound elders and we also have five dining sites around the county. We have one main commercial kitchen where we do the cooking and we have a need for vehicles to help us get those meals out to the elders who need it in the community."

Yanni noted that the Council on Aging and Vicar's Landing have a "great working relationship" and Bruce Jones, the CEO of the retirement community, is on the COA Board. According to Yanni, the COA had been using older cars (some up to 15 to 20 years old) to facilitate its program. As a result, the group needed a new vehicle, and Vicar's Landing answered the call.

Yanni also revealed that without partnerships with other organizations, COA wouldn't be capable of achieving its mission to feed and care for the elderly. The executive director added that COA serves about 260 Meals-on-Wheels per day in the county, along with about 600 meals in dining rooms in Ponte Vedra, Trout Creek, Hastings and other local areas.

"If we didn't have partnerships like with Vicar's Landing, we wouldn't be able to do the work that we do to the extent that we do it," she said. "They increase our capacity. If we had to buy our own vehicles and pay staff and pay gas and all those things, we could maybe serve 80 to 100 meals a day as opposed to what we're doing."

For more information on COA and Vicar's Landing, visit www.coasjc.org and www.vicarslanding.com.