Community Partner • All Blessings Flow

Annie Dodd, founder of medical equipment nonprofit All Blessings Flow said, “There was a need, and no one had really thought about filling it!”  Annie cared for her mom, who had polio as a teenager and post-polio syndrome in her last years, and required a lot of medical equipment. When her mother passed away, there was nowhere in our area to donate the medical equipment. Annie called a social worker, who put the word out, and she was inundated with requests! Annie and her husband Doug, a teacher at St. Anne’s Belfield School, prayed about the obvious need in our area and decided to create a mission to meet that need. As they were considering a name, Annie said, “What blessed my mother is now blessing someone else,”—hence the name—All Blessings Flow.  

Starting with a small storage unit and their carport in 2015, Annie and Doug were thrilled to have helped 150 people in need in their first year of operation. Within three years, All Blessings Flow (ABF) moved into a warehouse space across from Sam’s Club on Route 29.  After six years of operation, ABF is now helping over 3,000 people each year, giving out over 10,000 medical equipment items. In January, they acquired their third warehouse unit, expanding their space to 7,500 sq ft to house all the medical supplies and equipment, cleaning and repair stations, and office. Thanks to a generous grant and labor from Building Goodness Foundation, walls have been installed and painted, the garage door repaired, new lights installed, and shelves assembled and put into place.  Shelves are being filled each week to keep up with the increased volume of requests that flow each day.

ABF will soon launch a virtual event called Disability Resources United.  This will be an online guide giving individuals with disabilities easy access to a wide variety of resources available to them in our local area.  ABF received a grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation providing access to the Catchafire team, who has created a website for this event (www.disabilityresourcesunited.org). Service and resource information will be available this spring for Charlottesville, Albemarle and eight surrounding counties.

ABF is always in need of continued donations. Those who wish to donate equipment should check the website www.allblessingsflow.org to learn what equipment is accepted.  Annie continues to welcome volunteers, especially those who can help with the pickup and delivery of the equipment, especially hospital beds and larger donations. She also welcomes volunteers to help with warehouse duties of helping with client requests, inventorying donated items, and cleaning and repairing equipment. 

Loaves & Fishes has been a beneficiary of ABF’s generosity with their recent donation of 100 packages of adult briefs. With many older clients coming to the pantry, many are delighted to be offered these necessities along with food.