When the eight-year-old Union County Gun Club disbanded on June 10, a year after fulfilling its mandate to establish a local shooting range, the Gun Club Board of Directors had one more order of business to conduct: disbursing funds remaining from the collection of dues.
The club’s bylaws directed the board to use the funds to pay any outstanding bills before distributing the remainder to a charitable cause or causes of its choosing.
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During deliberations, Board Member Lamar Franklin suggested donating the last of the club’s funds to the Senior Center.
For several years, Franklin’s mother LeVert benefited greatly from the programs offered by the Senior Center before she passed away in 2015 at the age of 98.
Additionally, board members were keenly aware of the Senior Center’s recent financial struggles that have resulted in cuts to senior meal services; so, they voted to donate $4,386.30 to a very grateful Senior Center, which received the donation on Thursday, June 26.
“We had talked about splitting it up to three or four other charities in Union County, but we decided that this would do more good, one big lump sum to the Senior Center,” Franklin said.
Attending the donation were Gun Club Board Members Lamar Franklin, Wayne Roshaven and Paul Clark as well as Club Spokesperson Mack Mason and new Senior Center Director Laura Briggs.
Center services include both congregate and home-delivered meals, individual and group activities like mahjong and karaoke, exercise classes, fabric arts and sewing, paint arts and crafts, as well as community education, according to the Senior Center.
For aging individuals, community and engagement are essential to maintaining health, which the Senior Center is happy to provide to eligible Union County residents.
As noted above, the center has been experiencing fiscal constraints in recent months that have adversely impacted services to county residents aged 60 and over, according to Briggs.
The Gun Club’s generous donation – considerably larger than other community contributions this year – will go toward assisting Senior Center operations and meal services, the latter of which currently feature waiting lists due to lack of funding to accommodate additional seniors.
“Donations from the community are vital, especially as we are preparing to serve a growing population of adults over 60,” Director Briggs said. “The Union County Senior Center team is grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.”
Gun Club President Paul Clark said he hopes this donation inspires other people to financially support the Senior Center and, by extension, the many local seniors who rely on Meals on Wheels and congregate meals for food each week.
In addition to monetary donations, Briggs said people can help by purchasing items from the center’s Amazon Wish List, which can be found at https://a.co/770jLOB. And volunteers are also needed.
“People have been very responsive to our Amazon Wish List,” Brigs said. “They’ve been bringing in the essential items that we need so that that didn’t have to come out of our budget, and our budget can go to food.
“The financial support is huge because we do have a deficit right now, but we definitely need volunteers. We need instructors if people would like to volunteer their talent to come in and share, whether that’s painting or something like Tai Chi or yoga or sewing.
“People who have expertise and would like to share that expertise with others, we’re very happy to have them come in. And we do need more drivers for Meals on Wheels. One of our routes is 2.5 hours long, and we’re going to split it out.
“Currently, we have 30 routes per week; it’s six routes times five days. If we split that, it becomes seven routes (per day), so I need five more drivers every single week just to maintain 35 routes driven every week.
“Drivers are always appreciated, and they’re doing that out of their own time and money; we don’t pay for their gas or insurance, the wear and tear on their cars. They’re giving their time and everything.”
The Senior Center is located at 95 Senior Center Drive in Blairsville.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following the membership’s vote to disband and the board’s distribution of remaining funds, the Union County Gun Club has officially ended. However, the Union County Gun Range remains in operation by the Union County Recreation Department. For more information on the Gun Range, visit https://www.unioncountyga.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Gun-Range-1.
