Our Purpose
Piedmont Agency on Aging serves Greenwood, Abbeville, Laurens, and Saluda Counties.
We offer an array of services that assist seniors, while preserving their independence and dignity. These services include meals on wheels, transportation, educational & recreational programs and telephone assurance.
Our History
Our agency opened its doors in 1971 with a $25,000 budget and four staff to oversee the agency’s operation. Services included the Greenwood Congregate Nutrition Site and Meals on Wheels housed in the Greenwood Senior Center building, then located at Bailey Circle. At the time, the agency did not have a kitchen, so meals were prepared by an outside source. In 1984, renovations were made to the Senior Center and a kitchen was added. The agency became one of only a few in South Carolina to prepare its own meals. As demand for meals grew, the agency outgrew the kitchen. In 1991, a capital campaign began to raise funds to build a new kitchen, and in 1992, the Mercedes A. Pannone Nutrition Center was formally opened at 111 Reynolds Park Drive in Greenwood. The kitchen currently produces 850 meals a day which are distributed across our four-county serving area.
In 2000, the new Piedmont Agency on Aging Senior Center Complex was added. The complex houses the Executive Office, the Greenwood Congregate Nutrition Site, and previously Lifetime Discoveries – a commercial childcare facility. Lifetime Discoveries closed its doors after 23 years and is now being leased by Kingdom Kids Daycare Center.
Today, the agency operates with an annual budget of over $2.4 million and a volunteer base of approximately 300 people. We prepare approximately 220,000 meals and provide 150,000 point to point passenger miles of transportation each year. Since 1971 a lot has changed. However, our original purpose has never diminished. We are committed to serving the needs of seniors to the best of our ability and enable them to remain in their homes as long as possible.