{"id":26384,"date":"2020-04-16T15:20:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T19:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26384"},"modified":"2020-04-16T15:20:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T19:20:50","slug":"aurora-cares-team-aims-to-get-meal-programs-services-for-vulnerable-back-up-and-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-cares-team-aims-to-get-meal-programs-services-for-vulnerable-back-up-and-running\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Cares team aims to get meal programs, services for vulnerable back up and running"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A task force established to help address the needs of\nAurora\u2019s most vulnerable residents is focused on getting important services\nback up and running in whatever way they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As The Auroran reported last week, the Town of Aurora has\nbrought together a cross-sector group of residents and community leaders to\nform the Aurora Cares Community Action Team aimed at examining the needs of\nvulnerable and at-risk residents and hammering out a plan of action during a\ntime of unusual and difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting for the first time virtually last week, the group\nof twelve worked on a list of key action items for the next few weeks,\nincluding re-establishing important meal programs wherever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meal programs, such as the two offered by Welcoming Arms\n(Welcome Table and Martha\u2019s Table), have had to close their doors after trying\ndifferent models of staying open while, at the same time, maintaining physical\ndistancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the possibility of getting [these\nprograms] back up and running,\u201d said Mayor Tom Mrakas following the group\u2019s\ninaugural meeting. \u201cThey had to shut down as places of gathering [and] have\nbeen unable to continue helping those that have come out to Welcome Table on a\nweekly basis, as well as the Welcoming Arms program. We\u2019re looking at 180 meals\na week they provide and now that is 180 meals that are not available to those\nthat were in need before this pandemic started, and there is probably much more\nof a need now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Aurora Cares members bring their concerns forward,\nrising to the top of the list has been helping the homeless and those who are\ncurrently in precarious living situations. The group is looking to see what\nkinds of programs can be offered to those who are \u201cliving on that line,\u201d said\nMayor Mrakas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also talked about our seniors, our most vulnerable,\nand what kind of help and services are provided as far as making sure they get\nfood, they stay active, [and] that their mental health is continuously being\nkept in a positive frame of mind. We know in this time you keep someone locked\nup in a room with nowhere to go, it is very easy to become depressed, anxiety\nstarts to kick in, so those are some of the things we\u2019re looking at [is] how\ncan we provide some programming? A lot of individuals and businesses have taken\nup the mantle and said, \u2018We\u2019ll pick up groceries for seniors and help out where\nwe can.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother part of that is we also want to create one list\nthat kind of lists everything that is available within the Town so people that\nare feeling the pressure, feeling the stress and don\u2019t know where to turn, they\nwill have a source that they will be able to have a better understanding of\nwhat is available to them, what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initiatives like these are expected to move forward in\nearnest next week as Council considers a motion from Mayor Tom Mrakas to\nredirect funds left over from last year\u2019s Mayor\u2019s Charity Golf Classic over to\nthe Aurora Cares group to facilitate their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe funds are supposed to be to help those who are less fortunate and at need in the community,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas. \u201cWe just need to be able to shift it properly to the proper process. We\u2019re looking at getting those funds over so we can utilize that in the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A task force established to help address the needs of Aurora\u2019s most vulnerable residents is focused on getting important services back up and running in whatever way they can. As The Auroran reported last week, the Town of Aurora has brought together a cross-sector group of residents and community leaders to form the Aurora Cares […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Ry","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 11:52:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}