A faith-based senior living and care community in Virginia takes its mission of compassionate care seriously, creating a fund to keep residents in their homes there even when they outlive their resources.
Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community founder George B. Showalter set aside a portion of his estate to provide assisted living and nursing home care for those who lacked the resources to care for themselves. Almost 70 years later, VMRC continues its mission of helping residents to “age well and live fully,” regardless of their personal finances.
VMRC Foundation Executive Director Joe Hackman said that compassion is one of the community’s core values. Approximately 25 residents — or one-third of the community’s assisted living and nursing care residents — are in need of “compassion funding,” which is provided through the Good Samaritan Annual Fund and the Compassion Endowments.
“The community really rallies to take care of others,” Hackman told McKnight’s Senior Living. “It’s always been part of the vision and mission of the VMRC to help those in financial need and to care for each other.”
The Good Samaritan Annual Fund raises around $300,000 annually. Interest from the endowment, combined with the Good Samaritan Annual Fund, goes to support those assisted living and nursing care residents who have outlived their financial resources.
Nursing care at the community costs $400 per day, Hackman said. Once a resident has exhausted his or her resources, Medicaid contributes approximately $260 per day, leaving a $140 per day difference that is covered by compassion funds. The foundation, he said, must raise more than $1 million annually to keep its compassion funding going strong.
The foundation is in the midst of planning its Celebration of Lights annual appeal to support those funds. Hackman said that the foundation sets a goal of covering half of what it needs for the Good Samaritan Fund through the yearly appeal. The fundraiser has already collected $131,000 of this year’s $150,000 goal. Donations also come from resident and staff member contributions in honor of or in memory of loved ones, as well as from local congregations and 100 resident “visionaries” who have included VMRC in their estate planning. The effort also typically garners $30,000 in sponsorships each year from local businesses.
“We call compassion care our North Star,” Hackman said. “It’s really what gives us focus, gets to the heart and soul of our organization and everything we are about.”
In 2022, 799 donors contributed to the funds, with 114 of those individuals giving $1,000 or more. Last year, the foundation raised $882,507, and 26 residents were supported by the Good Samaritan Annual Fund and Compassion Endowments.
Over the past decade, the foundation also has helped VMRC expand its facilities and programs, including the construction of its Woodland Park Nursing Care facility; the establishment of The Farm at Willow Run, a 40-acre farm where VMRC grows almost 70% of the produce used in its dining services; staff training; the VMRC Juried Art Exhibition, which attracted 157 artists from 22 states this year; and the Shenandoah Valley Lyceum Series, a public lecture program.
The community also has other endowments for memory care, staff development, nurse education and workforce development, as well as the Medical Nutritional Endowment and the Joyn & Evelyn Nixon Heltzel Endowment for Transitional Care.
