Program areas at VINE Faith in Action
Aging well at the Vine adult community center (vacc). The vacc offers aging adults opportunities to improve their physical health and wellness, socialize with peers, and access additional services. Members participate in a wide variety of group exercise, water exercise, and yoga classes; fitness center workouts, social activities, arts programming, educational lectures, and evidence-based health classes such as diabetes prevention program and living with chronic conditions. The vacc includes a state-of-art fitness center, indoor walking track, group exercise and program rooms, and a warm water exercise pool. in fy22, the vacc had approximately 1,630 members, logging over 64,621 in-person and 6,473 virtual physical fitness activities.
Neighbors helping neighbors (nhn). Professional program staff work in concert with volunteers to help aging adults in need with tasks necessary for continued independent living. Vine's professional staff perform intake meetings and provide information about Vine services and local resources. in addition, they facilitate support groups and skill building classes, and advise/coach spouses and adult children in caring for their aging loved ones. Volunteers assist with home chores, deliver meals on wheels, and provide friendly companionship visits. Vine's licensed adult day respite center provides caring support for aging adults. This program was discontinued 9/30/21. Vine's diversity program aids elders from diverse cultures and assists with advocacy, socialization, form assistance and translation, and service coordination. Vine latest offering is pearls (program to encourage active rewarding lives), which is a national evidence-based program for late-life depression. Nearly 260 individuals were actively receiving assistance in various nhn programs at the end of fy22.
Mndot transportation. Vine's true transit public transit program uses paid drivers and five accessible busses to provide dial-a-ride public transportation to and from destinations in rural blue earth, nicollet, and le sueur counties. The program costs are covered by Minnesota department of transportation and blue earth, nicollet, and le sueur counties. 12,245 rides were provided in fy22. Passenger fares were not collected due to pandemic measures until 1/1/2022.
Door2door transportation: Vine's volunteer driver program provides medical, social and employment related transportation to aging adults and people enrolled in publicly funded health plans. Most rides are provided within the city limits of mankato and north mankato. Vine volunteer drivers are available to provide medical rides to out of town appointments. in fy22, door2door provided 5,657 rides.
Vine home thrift store: our store accepts donations of gently used home furnishing and accessories which are sold to benefit Vine programs and services. Our store employees full and part-time staff who pick-up and process donations, stage items, cashier and assist customers.