| Welcome to the Augusta Community Caring CenterVolunteers helping our community and county |
The Augusta Community Caring Center was established in the 1990s with the sole purpose of providing needed food, clothing, household items and utility assistance to the people of Augusta and the rest of Butler County. This basic mission has not changed.
The Caring Center was the brainchild of Alta Mae Jones who approached the Augusta Ministerial Alliance in March of 1983. She and Burl Allison, along with the help of Rev. Brooks, got the Center started in the old Methodist parsonage. Mr. Morgan of Morgan Drug, Betsy Thompson, members of the Lutheran Church, Mobile Refinery, Jim and Betty Terry, and many others helped get the Center under way and on November 15, 1983 the Center was opened. In February of 1992 the Center moved to two houses on Cliff Drive. Then on August 22, 1992, 250 people gathered at 4th and Oak Street and in one day they built the Center.
Early in 2020 we expanded our operations to include The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). This program is available to low-income households (see income guidelines here). Under this program we provide about 100 boxes of food to Butler County residents every month. We also began in April, 2020 to distribute Disaster Household Distribution (DHD) food to households out of work due to the corona virus. In July, 2020 we became part of the Butler County CV-19 Disaster Relief program and distributed boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables every week. These three programs allow us to help people from anywhere in Butler County.
In 2019 the Center provided over 1,330 boxes of food to Augusta residents. This number has been growing steadily since we started tracking. Over $11,000 was provided to Augusta residents for utility assistance and over 1200 bags of clothing were provided in 2019. The trend has been steadily upward since 2010. The need is still great.
In August of 2022 the Caring Center moved into the north end of Robinson School. Robinson was closed by USD 402 due to declining enrollment. What was unpleasant for the school district was a blessing for the Augusta community. Several service providers began operating from the Robinson Wellness Center which provided Augusta with a "one stop shop" for services. What was 2,100 square feet turned into nearly 8,000 square feet and the search was on for new and improved programs for the Caring Center.
Remember that the Caring Center is run completely by volunteers. These volunteers give up their time to direct, manage and do all the work associated with maintaining, cleaning, repairing, sorting clothing, buying food, picking up deliveries of TEFAP food, and distributing all this to people needing our assistance. It is a big task and these volunteers all deserve our appreciation. Here is to the volunteers!