Vine Faith In Action

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 expenses are funded through a grant from minnesota department of transportation with additional funding from blue earth, nicollet, and le sueur counties and rider fares. 12,377 rides were provided in fy24.

Vine home thrift store: the vine home thrift store accepts donations of gently used home furnishing and accessories which are sold to benefit vine programs and services. The store employees full and part-time staff who pick-up and process donations, stage items, cashier and assist customers. A variety of volunteers also assist at the store with merchandising, repairs, and inventory sorting.

Aging well at home: 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 staff with home chores and minor repairs, deliver meals on wheels, and provide friendly companionship visits for individuals who are more isolated. Vine's diversity program aids elders from diverse cultures and assists with advocacy, socialization, form assistance and translation, and service coordination. Vine also offers pearls (program to encourage active rewarding lives), which is a national evidence-based program for late-life depression. 702 individuals were actively receiving assistance in various aging well at home programs during fy24.

Door2door transportation: vine's volunteer driver program provides transportation to aging adults and people enrolled in publicly funded health plans formedical appointments and errands. Most rides are provided within the city limits of mankato and north mankato. Some vine volunteer drivers are available toprovide medical rides to out of town appointments. In fy24, door2door provided 4,747 rides.