One year after the Vashon Community Care Foundation was created to raise funds for the island’s skilled nursing and assisted living facility, a new executive director is at the foundation’s helm, and a fundraising effort to raise at least $500,000 is under way.

On March 31, Verna Everitt replaced Linda Milovsoroff, who retired after almost nine years with the center and foundation. Everitt, who many islanders know from her board work with the Vashon Maury Island Heritage Association and her position at Vashon Allied Arts, is completing a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership at Seattle University. She returned to school, believing she would work in the arts world, but now, she said, she is happily immersed in her new position and the work and mission of VCC, which she summed up succinctly.

“If you run out of money, we do not run out on you,” she said. “I can get behind that 100 percent.”

Everitt spent her early childhood on Vashon and then

left for 40 years before returning from Los Angeles in 2007 with her husband and two children. She owned her own production company there for 15 years — work that is serving her well now, she noted.

“I love the development world,” she said. “It reminds me very much of producing. I spent a lifetime asking people for funds. I have no problem asking people for money.”

Now, she and the foundation’s 12-member board are doing just that. It is a task that is essential at VCC, they say, in part because of its commitment to caring for residents who no longer have the ability to pay for their care. When someone enters a nursing home, unless they have long-term care insurance, they are expected to pay the full cost of care. When their funds are depleted, Medicaid will kick in, but it covers only a portion of the cost. Currently, Medicaid pays 70 percent of the cost in VCC’s skilled nursing facility and 49 percent in assisted living, according to Truman O’Brien, the president of the foundation. VCC serves 30 residents in its skilled nursing facility, and about two-thirds of those are covered by Medicaid, said Judy Beggs, the director of operations.

Because of that Medicaid gap, O’Brien said there is a projected shortfall of more than $1.1 million this year, a number that keeps increasing as costs rise and reimbursement rates do not keep up.  In 2013, the Medicaid gap was about $1.03 million, some $100,000 less than it is now.

VCC has worked hard to create a stable financial picture, O’Brien said, and through careful budgeting and income from the adult day health program and its rehabilitation services, it will make up for all but $400,000 of the needed funds. With the cost of foundation staff added, that figure is $500,000.

Now, O’Brien noted, the foundation is on track to raise three different types of funds: a sustaining fund dedicated to operations, a legacy fund to keep liquid to tap in case of  catastrophe and an endowment fund.

Last year, he said, the foundation raised $406,000, with $306,000 going to operations and $100,000 earmarked for the legacy and endowment funds.

As part of their fundraising effort, the foundation board and Everitt are encouraging people to donate monthly to the sustaining fund. The foundation began this initiative last year, but both Everitt and O’Brien say it has been slow to catch on with potential donors. If 600 people gave as little as $20 a month, they say, that would create a much more solid base for VCC.

“We want that $20 a month,” O’Brien said. “A couple hundred of those, and it adds up.”

They are a long way from their goal, they acknowledge, but do have several donors, some that give $5 a month, others at $100, $200 and $300.

Beyond that effort, they say they are able to accept property and investments and will apply for more grants and continue to seek major donors and host a variety of events.

O’Brien became involved with VCC when his mother lived the last eight years of her life there; she died in 2009. He first served on the VCC board, including five years as president, and he spearheaded the creation of the foundation. To him, the path is clear.

“We can give lousy care or we can shut the doors,” he  said. “And I am not going to do either one of those things. We are going to give quality care and keep the doors open.”

He noted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded five stars to VCC as part of its routine rating program of the nation’s nursing homes.  Earning five stars is a coveted rating that many facilities fall short of and is based on staffing levels, performance on a variety of quality measures and the results of annual inspections by state and federal employees.

When making his fundraising pitch, O’Brien notes the demographics of the island, which has a larger population of seniors and soon-to-be seniors than other parts of King County.

According to the 2010 census, 42 percent of islanders were between 45 and 64, compared to 27 percent in King County, and 18 percent of islanders were 65 and older, compared to 11 percent countywide.

Some of those who work with seniors on the island say that precisely because of those demographics, Vashon will have to become a leader in the region in how to care for an aging population. Everitt and O’Brien say that the work of VCC is essential to that and are working toward a time when annual campaigns to cover the shortfall will not be needed. Their goal is to grow the endowment fund so it alone will cover the annual shortfall; $6 to $7 million will be needed to achieve that goal, O’Brien said.

Until that time, though, they will be looking for islanders to support the care of island elders at VCC.

“These are our friends and neighbors,” Everitt said.