VOLUNTARY ACTION CENTER - Hand Up, Inc.

Come and join us at Walmart this morning for the annual Singing for Toys event, featuring performances by the CCS and Gordon County Schools primary/elementary schools choruses! 🎶🎄✨

This year's musical guests include:
9:00 AM Belwood Elementary School
9:30 AM Calhoun 6th Grade Chorus
10:00 AM Fairmount Elementary School
10:30 AM Sonoraville Elementary School
11:00 AM Calhoun Primary School 2nd and 3rd Grade
11:30 AM Calhoun Elementary School 4th and 5th Grade

Come shop the last sale of the year! 75% off entire store! The Thrift Store will be open today 9AM-6PM!

The Voluntary Action Center wants to thank you! All of our 486 children from 285 families will be having a magical Christmas this year! Thank you to all who have helped sponsor a child/family, donated monetarily, and gifted new toys! We appreciate you very much!

This week's Staff Spotlight is Ashley Lindsey. Ashley is our Donation Manager and has been with us for 3 years. She does an incredible job sorting through all of the donations that come in. Ashley's favorite thing about the VAC is being a part of a work family and seeing customers and clients. She loves helping others and seeing our community come together to help those in need. Ashley would like the community to know that we rely on donations to support our programs. We accept donations Mon-Sat 9AM-5PM in the back of our building.

There are only a few weeks away until Christmas, so come shop these tag sales in the Thrift Store for the month of December! The Thrift Store is open 9AM-6PM Monday-Friday and Saturday 9AM-5PM.

The Community Kitchen Dining Room will be closed for the month of December in preparation for the VAC Christmas Program.

Lunch and Dinner will be served out of the VAC Food Pantry Window

The Community Kitchen is in need of Spices and Condiments for the month of December. Donations can be dropped of at 343 South Wall St M-F 9AM-5PM.

Thank you to all who have supported the Community Kitchen with donations this year!

The VAC Senior Christmas Box was a huge success again this year! We delivered 100 food and toiletry boxes to senior residents of Gordon County! Thank you to everyone who donated items and volunteered to help deliver boxes this morning!

The VAC Thrift Store Christmas Sale will be Friday, Dec 8th from 9AM-6PM. Come shop the store for 75% off and get some incredible deals for Christmas gifts!

This week's Staff Spotlight is Taylor Harris. Taylor joined us this year in February and is the Assistant Director. Taylor has been so helpful with teaching new Executive Director, Miranda Bentley the ropes. Her favorite thing about working at the VAC is helping those in need. She would like the community to know that when you support us whether that be financially, by donations, or by shopping in the Thrift Store all of the funds stay right here in Gordon County to help men, women, and families.

If you have sponsored a child for the VAC Operation Happy Christmas Program this year all bags are due by December 15th at 5PM.

Today, Marie Funes - Calhoun High School's Family Engagement Coordinator, was presented with the 2023 Strike Out Hunger Food Drive Award from the VOLUNTARY ACTION CENTER - Hand Up, Inc. Executive Director, Miranda Bentley. Kudos to CHS for donating the highest number of food items among all other CCS schools this year. We are proud to acknowledge Mrs. Funes' hard work and dedication in inspiring our students to make a positive difference in our community. We greatly appreciate the generous contributions of everyone who donated!

Come to Walmart on Friday, December 8th from 9AM-12PM in support of us collecting toys for our Operation Happy Christmas Program thanks to AdventHealth Gordon and United Way of Gordon County. Festivities will begin at 9AM with local school children singing Christmas carols. Thank you to all who have supported us again this year and the years previous! It's because of the community support we are able to provide Christmas each year to Gordon County residents!

This year's musical guests include:
9:00 AM Belwood Elementary School
9:30 AM Calhoun 6th Grade Chorus
10:00 AM Fairmount Elementary School
10:30 AM Sonoraville Elementary School
11:00 AM Calhoun Primary School 2nd and 3rd Grade
11:30 AM Calhoun Elementary School 4th and 5th Grade

For our , each of our branches partnered with the LGE Community Outreach Foundation to make a $1,000 donation to a local non-profit organization of their choice.

Our Calhoun branch chose the VOLUNTARY ACTION CENTER - Hand Up, Inc. The VAC is an incredible facility that provides support to in need families and individuals in Gordon County.

Learn more about the LGE Foundation at https://bit.ly/3GkBBQo.

Learn more about the VAC at https://bit.ly/49TncZ1.

The only thing we enjoy more than a pajama day is helping our friends at the VOLUNTARY ACTION CENTER! Our team collected 250+ socks and puzzles to donate to the VAC’s annual Christmas boxes for seniors. What a fun way to kick off the holiday season!

The month of November only has a few days left, come shop these tag sales in the Thrift Store M-F 9AM-6PM

The VAC is still taking sponsors for our Operation Happy Christmas Program. There are 110 children that still need to be sponsored. Want to sponsor a family and bless them this Christmas? Call 706-629-7283 to sponsor!
All sponsor packets will include the age, gender, size, and wish list of each child sponsored.

Today join Meadowdale Baptist Church as they host a Thanksgiving Dinner from 4:00pm-6:00pm at the VAC, anyone is welcome! The VAC offices and Thrift Store will be closed, but the dining room will be open during the dinner. Thank you to Steven Moss one of our volunteers for organizing this for our clients and community!

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at the VAC!

Thank you Calhoun Moose Lodge #1974 for the donations in support of the VAC Community Kitchen!

Thank you to all the lodge members who donated for our food drive. We took one load to the VAC today. We will continue to collect through mid December. If you would like to donate, please drop off before December 14th.

The VAC offices, Community Kitchen, and Thrift Store will be closed November 23-25 for the Thanksgiving Holiday

Applications for Operation Happy Christmas are due by tomorrow November, 22nd at 5:00pm! If you have not turned it in, please do so by tomorrow as we will not accept any more after the deadline.

Thank you Coble Elementary School for collecting cans in support of our Food Pantry! We greatly support the donations!

Thank you to Gordon County Ministerial Alliance for the generous donation to help in our Community Kitchen, because of your support we will be able to provide food to those in need right here in Gordon County! Thank you for helping us help others!

Santa needs your help! There are 80 children who still need to be sponsored for the VAC Operation Happy Christmas program.

Give us a call at 706-629-7283 or stop by the office at 343 South Wall St.

The VAC has a lot of Enfamil and Similac Formula available. Call 706-629-7283 or stop by the office at 343 South Wall St to pick up.

The VAC will be closed November 23-25 for Thanksgiving.

Because of the generosity of one of the Sunday Adult Groups at Meadowdale Baptist Church, they are hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner at the VAC on Friday, November 24th from 4:00pm-6:00pm. Anyone is welcome to join! The VAC offices and Thrift Store will be closed, but the dining room will be open!

Applications are due in just a few days, if you have received an application for Operation Happy Christmas they are due by Nov 22nd by 5PM. The office is accepting applications M-F 9AM-5PM. All documentation must be presented in order to turn in the application.

TOMORROW! Come shop the Thrift Store for our Thanksgiving Sale. Open 9AM-6PM

This week's Staff Spotlight is Tiffany Freeman. Tiffany is our Thrift Store Manager and has been with us for almost 5 years. She knows the ends and outs of the Thrift Store and does an incredible job organizing and running the every day in the store. She loves working alongside her co-workers and enjoys seeing regular customers as well as new customers. When you shop at the Thrift Store all of the money stays in Gordon County to help all of the programs the VAC offers. Tiffany would like the community to know that when you shop and spend $25 in the Thrift Store each month you can enter into a drawing to win a coupon for 75% off. Come shop and see Tiffany M-F 9AM-5PM!

This is the last week to attend a class for the VAC Operation Happy Christmas Program. There are only 3 classes left. Any parent interested in the program will need to attend one of these classes listed in order to receive the application.

The VAC will be closed in honor of Veterans Day on November 10th.

Thank you so much to the Cherokee Regional Mustang Club for your generous donation to the VAC! Thank you for helping us help others!

Happy November! This month the Community Kitchen is in need of gravy, boxed stuffing, and canned cranberry sauce in preparation for Thanksgiving. All donations can be dropped off at 343 South Wall St.

Thank you to all of the Calhoun City Schools and Gordon County Schools as we had another successful Fired Up Food Drive this year. All of the donations of canned food and non-perishable items will help us continue our Food Programs offered at the VAC. The VAC has distributed more than 51,000 food items this year. Thank you for continuing to support us as we support others.

Stop by the VAC Thrift Store and shop these tag sales this month. Orange tags are 25% off, green tags are 50% off, and red tags are 75% off. The Thrift Store is open M-F 9AM-6PM and on Saturday 9AM-5PM!

An agent from Chattanooga Food Bank will be back on November 13th from 9:30AM-3PM to help assist with SNAP (Food Stamps). Anyone interested can call us at 706-629-7283 to make an appointment. Limited spots are available!