100-year-old senior service agency calling for local funding

GALESBURG, Ill. (KWQC) - With rising costs and a growing senior population across the nation, programs for seniors are becoming harder to find.

The Volunteer Network on Aging is a 100-year-old nonprofit serving seniors across Knox County, and they are calling on local leaders to partner in securing long-term stability for senior services.

Federal Title III dollars are available to them, but only if the community meets a modest local match.

A $50,000 commitment from Galesburg unlocks $700,000 in services — funding that directly supports meals, counseling, and other essential services for seniors.

“We’re really a one-stop shop for senior services, and we’re here to show Knox County seniors that they don’t have to go without,” Michael John Bennett, executive director of VNA community services said.

Senior Jill Swanson had a stroke earlier in the year, and she relies on the VNA for meals and social connection.

“‘What would happen if it closed?’ Well, people would be alone, and that’s the hardest part of getting older I think,” Swanson said.

These calls for support are not new. VNA has been reaching out to city and county leaders since 2023, when a lack of funding almost led the VNA to close its doors — a crisis that would have left more than 1,000 seniors now and thousands more in the future across Knox County without access to crucial programming designed to help them remain in their homes.

“What we’re trying to do is basically ensure that the programs can continue. We don’t want to leave our seniors in limbo anymore; we don’t want to be collecting dollars up until the very last day. We want the community to provide that structural base so that our seniors don’t have to rest in limbo,” Bennett said.

Sam Leon has utilized the VNA for over two years and said he needs to program for meals.

“I’m single; my wife passed away five years ago, and it’s tough warming water up when you don’t know how to warm it up — you know what I mean — but you learn, and this place is a learning place, too,” Leon said.

Over the past four years, Title III funding itself has grown — and with it, so has the required 15% local cash match. What was once about $40,000 has now tripled to nearly $120,000.

Each year, VNA has found a way to meet that match, but doing so has become harder and harder, leaving seniors in limbo until the very last second while stopgap solutions were pulled together.

For Bennett, it’s also a personal matter.

“I am a caregiver for my father in my home, and I have utilized services of the VNA. He has utilized services of the VNA,” Bennett said.

Bennett also says the matter is not abstract and says it’s not just numbers on a spreadsheet. He believes the people affected are our neighbors, our parents, and our grandparents.

“If the doors were to close tomorrow, over 1,000 seniors in Knox County would be left without a very vital and crucial safety net. So really, without this local cash match, we are basically leaving about 700,000 dollars on the table for some other county to snatch up,” Bennett said.

To amplify their message, VNA has organized a petition drive. It can be signed in person at the VNA Senior Center on Grand Avenue, at Tres Café in Galesburg, at several local churches, or here online.

All signatures that will be collected will be presented at the city council meeting on Sept. 15.

“If we leave that meeting no further than where we are right now, it is going to be a great detriment to the seniors of Knox County,” Bennett said.