Community Connections celebrates 50 years of service

The Community Connections of Lavaca County is celebrating 50 years of service.

Community Connections provides homecooked meals for seniors as well as a transit service.

“Primarily, what we do is make meals and deliver to homebound seniors or those who can’t drive,” Community Connections Program Director Becky Janak said. “Most of our meals are home delivered. We cook and deliver 200 to 250 meals every day and 1,000 per week. The homebound seniors love getting that hot meal every day and it’s so rewarding to provide that service. All of our meals are prepared by a dietician so they meet all the requirements that are needed.”

Community Connections is located at 326 S La Grange St. The doors are open for all seniors to congregate.

“The seniors just love coming and interacting,” Janak said. “They love playing bingo and dominos and just visiting with each other.”

The program also has a public transportation service which provides rides to medical appointments in the county as well as out of the county. For those desiring, the transit drivers will take anyone in need of a ride to local grocery stores, pharmacies, beauty salons, work locations, banks, senior citizens and more. Prices for the service range from anywhere between $1 to $50 depending on the location. The transit goes all around the county as well as Houston, Austin, or Victoria.

“This program was started in March of 1974,” Janak said. “At the time, it was sorely just for senior citizens who were 55 and older. The meals were just for senior citizens as well as the transit service. Now, things have changed, and the public transit is for anyone of any age. The transit service is huge for us. It’s something that our citizens really need and we’re booked everyday with transit.”

“We appreciate the donations we receive from various organizations and the grant money we get,” Janak said. “One of the grants we receive is from the Dickson Allen Foundation. We get anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000. They are what keeps us going. We also get reimbursements through the state. We’re basically considered a subcontractor with the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission and they are the ones who go out and get money for those of us who manage these programs.”

Organizations like the Lions Club also contributes to donations. Community Connections also does fundraisers every year.

“We recently did a fundraiser garage sale at the beginning of April,” Janak said. “On average, this program costs us about $650,000 to run. Soon, we will be doing a cash raffle, that’s something we’ve done in the past and that’s been very successful. We also have an annual Senior Citizens Day in August. We rent Blase’s Hall for the day and have a catered meal with live music and a silent auction.”

Community Connections is run by paid staff with 18 employees total.

“I’m extremely proud of all of our employees,” Janak said. “When COVID happened, senior citizen programs and nutrition programs stopped working. Our guys never wanted to stop working though, we remained here and cooked meals every single day throughout the pandemic.”

Janak wants to thank all donors, volunteers, staff members, and patrons who make Community Connections possible.