Walking (and Rolling) to Feed Children

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fth-rollingCat Balentine is the occupational therapist at Piedmont Health SeniorCare, located in Burlington, NC. The mission of Piedmont Health SeniorCare is “…to promote and sustain the independence of seniors wishing to remain in the community.”

Recently, Feed the Hunger received a gift of over $388 from this organization to provide life-sustaining food for children and families in need. Curious about the gift, we just had to find out the motivation behind it. What we found is a remarkable idea carried out by some incredible individuals!

Here’s their story. Back in 2013, the goal was to transform the afternoon “walking group” into an opportunity for participants to give back to the community. Working as a team, the group decided to raise funds that would be donated to a designated nonprofit cause or charity selected by the participants. Balentine says, “The program not only motivates some to be more active and promotes overall wellness, but it also gives our participants the opportunity to feel part of a group and allows them to feel in a way that they may not feel anymore, like they are a contributing member of society.”

Participants have an opportunity to walk – or roll – every day. Their laps are tallied daily and totals are kept. At the end of the month, total mileage is calculated, donations are gathered, and funds are sent to the designated group(s).

Over the last two years, Team PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) has logged 1,195 miles, raising $9,157 and benefitting 24 different organizations.

So, in August of this year, Team PACE logged 75 miles, which brought in $388 for Feed the Hunger. $388 provides 1,385 meals for malnourished children here in the US as well as around the world. The diagram below may help you visualize this a little better. The money raised by Team PACE is the equivalent of providing five children a nutritious meal each and every day of the school year. What a blessing!

A group of super seniors showed me how much fun it can be to raise money for a worthwhile cause. Now it’s your turn. How can YOU creatively provide more meals to those in need? We’d love to hear your comments!

Jim Gurley
Director of Development
Feed the Hunger

(original article located at: http://www.feedthehunger.org/walking-and-rolling-to-feed-children/)

President Obama Signs PACE Innovation Act into Law

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New Law Allows for Faster Expansion and Authority to Serve New Populations

President Obama signed the PACE Innovation Act (PIA) into law last night. The new law will allow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop pilot projects based on the successful PACE Model of Care.

president-obama“The President’s signature caps a more than two-year effort to provide opportunities for the PACE model to be used as a platform for innovation to serve more seniors as well as younger individuals in need of integrated care and services,” said Shawn Bloom, president and CEO of NPA. “We look forward to working with CMS to develop opportunities for PACE providers and others to develop new pilot programs that will take the lessons learned from PACE and apply them to new populations and more communities.”

The next step is for CMS to develop a process to accept, evaluate and measure proposed pilots based on the PACE model. Providers already have started to explore what changes in the model would be necessary to serve other populations that need consistent access to care and services.

“As we have worked with providers that serve younger individuals, such as those with developmental or physical disabilities, we have identified slight modifications to the PACE model that would be helpful,” Bloom said. “For example, the composition of the interdisciplinary team may need to be different, or the nature of activities at a PACE center might need to change to emphasize vocational training. The possibilities are very exciting.”

Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ-4) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-3) spearheaded the legislation in Congress. The Obama Administration also provided consistent support by including PACE pilot programs in its last two budget proposals and signing the legislation into law.