The late Rev. Roy Watkins was instrumental in setting up a program that has provided nutritional meals and companionship for scores of senior citizens in the township.

This year, the Senior Nutrition Center housed at Unity Presbyterian Church turns 35. Every day the center feeds approximately 35 members at the church's Unity Hall and delivers hot meals to 45 homebound senior citizens. Most of the members also volunteer their time at the center, the Fort Mill Care Center and other local charities, center Director Glenda Erwin said. She's been with the Senior Nutrition Center for the last 14 years.

In addition to the center's members, several members of the Unity congregation also volunteer there.

"I watched a lot of them grow up from preschool," Erwin said of the volunteers from Unity. "Now they're taller than me."

Every year, the church's youth group delivers Thanksgiving dinners to 70 to 80 people, Erwin said. Many other members help in the center on weekdays.

And the center gets help from all over the Fort Mill community, she said. Lowes Foods and Breadsmith, a new local bakery, both donate food, and resident Betsy McLean has provided about 16 pounds of produce from the Plant a Row program.

In addition to hot meals, the center also provides a place to socialize. The members hold auctions to raise money go out to lunch once a month. On Wednesdays, they sing.

"They love to sing," Erwin said as some members spontaneously led choruses of church hymns Thursday during the center's 35th anniversary celebration.

The center is run in conjunction with the S.C. Lieutenant Governor's Office Council on Aging, of which the Rev. Watkins was a board member 35 years ago. Unity Presbyterian has provided space for the program ever since.

"I've seen a lot of people come and go," Unity Presbyterian staff member Albert White said.

"This church is like a family and the nutrition center is the same way."

White has been on the Unity staff for 25 years since Watkins hired him. Now Erwin and the seniors rely on him.

"A lot of times I'll go out to their houses to do something for them, or I'll take them somewhere if they need a ride," White said. "I really enjoy seeing them each day."

Court Pickett, the head of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program with the Council on Aging in York County, said the center is the best one in the county.

"This center here, almost everyone volunteers," Pickett said.

Through the RSVP program, Pickett keeps track of the hours the seniors volunteer and the miles they drive. The Council on Aging uses that information to lobby the General Assembly at budget time not to cut funding for senior programs.

"It shows seniors are vital to the community," he said. "It shows they are out in the community doing things."

Currently, 325 senior citizens around the county are members of the RSVP program; Approximately 30 of them come from the Senior Nutrition Center.