Del. Toscano Presents Resolution Honoring JABA

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - The commonwealth is honoring the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) for its longtime service to the community.

57th District Delegate David Toscano presented JABA with a Virginia House resolution commending decades of work. The recognition resolution passed both the House and Senate in February.

"We are so honored to have Delegate Toscano help recognize us after 44 years of delivering services to seniors, to help them stay in the community,” JABA CEO Marta Keane said. “It's really nice to know that we're appreciated by the whole General Assembly."

JABA works with people living in Charlottesville, as well as Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties to age with dignity and stay engaged in the community.

“Certainly as the demographics of seniors is changing, by 2030 they will be 25 percent of the population in our region. So it's really important that we be able to grow with it," said Keane.

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JABA Honors Volunteers at Annual Awards Ceremony

On Friday, May 3 JABA honored our volunteers at our annual awards ceremony. Highlights included a Lifetime Service Award for long-time volunteer Bob Cooper, the 2nd Annual Susan Bishop Drumm Advocacy Award going to Insurance Counseling program volunteer Joe Bernheim, and a beautiful song from Greene County Community Center manager Sandra Davis. We can’t thank our volunteers enough. Without them it would not be possible to help as many people as we do every year.

JABA CEO Marta Keane gets things started.

Chronic disease self-management program volunteers.

A lifetime award for long-time JABA volunteer Bob Cooper.

Community Senior Center volunteers.

JABA volunteer Bob Cooper.

Insurance Counseling program volunteer Joe Bernheim, seen here with Insurance Couseling program director Randy Rodgers, received the 2nd Annual Susan Bishop Drumm Advocacy Award.

Insurance Counseling volunteers.

It’s Older Americans Month - and JABA Wants to Hear from You!

Communities that encourage the contributions of older adults are stronger...and smarter! Older adults play a key role in the vitality of our communities, neighborhoods, social networks, and personal lives.

How do you connect with and contribute to your community? Why is it important to you? To celebrate Older Americans Month this May, we're asking older Americans in our area to tell us how they connect with and contribute to their communities, neighborhoods, friends and family. 

Please fill out this short form today and let us know. Your answers will be featured throughout Older Americans Month!

Yancey School Community Center in Esmont Offically Opens

Yancey School Community Center in Esmont.

Albemarle County is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony March 9 to celebrate the official opening of the Yancey School Community Center in Esmont.

The free event, set for noon to 2 p.m., will include tours of the new facility and activities such as face-painting, button-making and mini golf. A free barbecue lunch from The French German/The Bend BBQ also will be provided while supplies last.

The Yancey School Community Center is at 7625 Porters Road. The building was home to Yancey Elementary School, which closed in June 2017.

The Jefferson Area Board for Aging, Piedmont Virginia Community College and the Education Transformation Centre, an alternative education program, all have leased space in the building. A community food bank and bookmobile also have continued their activities at Yancey. Read More.

JABA Transfers Ownership of Mountainside Senior Living in Crozet

Mountainside Senior Living in Crozet.

Mountainside Senior Living in Crozet is being sold from the nonprofit Jefferson Area Board for Aging to a for-profit company.

As of Friday, the facility is managed by English Meadows Senior Living, a company that, according to its website, has eight facilities across Virginia. Mountainside staff and residents will be able to stay at the facility.

Marta Keane, CEO of JABA, said English Meadows ultimately will buy Mountainside once state licensure has changed over. She said JABA has struggled to keep the facility financially sustainable without the infusion of additional funds over the last 18 months.

“We realized that we wanted to find a solution that would allow everyone to remain where they were and would allow us to continue to be fiscally responsible to JABA,” she said. Read more.