‘We decided to go big’: ACC Senior Services plans telethon for Big Day of Giving
Asian Community Center Senior Services, an organization dedicated to supporting people through their golden years, is hoping a Facebook Live telethon will provide the Midas touch for its fundraising goal on the Big Day of Giving on Thursday.
Typically, ACC Senior Services would greet the Sacramento region’s philanthropic big day with a party at the organization’s programs and administration building, said program director Linda Revilla. This year, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the venue will serve as headquarters for a Facebook Live telethon, with a lineup of more than 40 people taking part in remote and recorded performances, how-to demonstrations, interviews and various forms of entertainment throughout the day.
Other nonprofit groups are going all-in online to try to meet fundraising goals Thursday. The B Street Theatre is doing a six-hour telethon on Facebook Live hosted by Buck Busfield. And the Sacramento Ballet is doing a Digital Day of Dance, which will include classes, book club, cooking and crafting on social media channels.
The inaugural ACC Senior Services telethon is the latest in a number of coronavirus-related accommodations the organization has been forced to implement.
“In our transportation program, we can only transport one person at a time, everybody has to be wearing a mask, the driver is wearing a mask and gloves, and after every ride each driver has to disinfect the vehicle. So we’re not providing the same volume of rides. We’re just providing critical rides to dialysis and other treatments,” Revilla said. “At the care center, everybody is using personal protective equipment. There’s no visitors that are allowed. For the residential facilities, that’s the most difficult thing. You can’t go and visit your grandma at our care center. What we have done though is set up a Skype room so everyone can visit virtually.”
Other ACC services include Meals on Wheels, lifelong learning, wellness and employment programs, in addition to a number of hobby and craft groups. According to communications director Ted Fong, the organization typically provides services to more than 7,000 people a year, including caregivers.
On April 21, ACC reported one employee tested positive for COVID-19, but no cases have been found among its residents, Fong said.
According to data provided by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the ACC Services Care Center located in the Pocket area is one of nine five-star nursing homes in Sacramento.
The ACC website lists increased training, staffing hours, sanitation and assistance due to job loss as factors leading to a fundraising goal of $75,000.
“We’re kind of forced to do this because for the last eight years we’ve had a big party at ACC, where we annually bring in about $55,000. For us not to have this gathering would hurt us financially, so we decided to do a telethon and go big. We think we can raise 30 percent more, based on the reach we’ve had and the interest that people have shown us,” Fong said. “Plus, we’re making the case that the funds will be used to help ACC mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on seniors.”
Journalist siblings Lisa and Laura Ling will take part in an interview during the event. Several segments will feature ACC residents demonstrating skills and crafts honed through ACC’s extracurricular programs.
Glenn Watanabe, a volunteer with ACC since 1978, recalls his involvement with the organization beginning after moving to Sacramento, back when it still operated out of a Victorian-style home across the street from Southside Park.
Watanabe has provided instruction for several guitar groups and five ukulele groups, one of which will perform during Thursday’s telethon.
“The ukulele groups have been going on 10 years now, with hardly any dropouts. That attests to the camaraderie that the club members feel towards each other, and how much they enjoy playing, but more importantly, performing for others. They’re still going strong,” Watanabe said. “When they first started taking the class, 90 percent of them were green. At first, they said they just wanted to play for their own amusement. By the time they finished the classes, they wanted to start collaborating, so I said, ‘Let’s start a group.’ They got to see the joy that music provides, and now they’re hooked.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 10:21 AM.