If it’s New Year’s Day, retired Orangeburg businessman Austin Cunningham can be found at Orangeburg’s downtown Memorial Square partaking of what is quickly becoming an Orangeburg tradition.

“It is the best money you can spend,” Cunningham said. “How many towns will give anybody who wants to come a ... good luck meal. It is a lovely way to begin the first day of the year.”

Cunningham is one of the many Orangeburg residents to faithfully attend the New Year’s Day Orangeburg County Council on Aging’s Elder-Hop Meals-On-Wheels fund-raiser. The fifth annual fund-raiser will be held today from noon until 2 p.m.

A traditional meal of cornbread, Hoppin’ John and collard greens is on the menu.

The OCCOA will collect gifts of $10 or more to go toward the cost of providing meals to local elderly residents through its Meals-On-Wheels program.

The meal is free to those who cannot afford to pay.

In case of inclement weather, Elder-Hop will be held at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds.

Rowesville’s Charles Nightingale said his personal volunteerism with Meals on Wheels in the Bowman community and a history of delivering Meals on Wheels in his family have both demonstrated to him the importance of the program. Nightingale has attended the event the last three years.

“It is like the boomerang effect,” Nightingale said, noting that he, at 62, is also a senior citizen and may need similar assistance in his future. “I hope to throw it out and hope it comes back to me.”

Nightingale says the Elder Hop serves as a positive way to give back to the community.

“I like positive stuff,” he said. “This is a positive thing to do.”

For Cunningham, attending and supporting the Elder Hop is a vital lifeline for those homebound elderly to receive assistance. He noted that the majority of the Meals on Wheels staff are volunteers who work for free, with funds raised primarily going toward the meals.

“Sometimes this volunteer is the only person the elderly citizen sees that day,” Cunningham said, noting that contributing to the Meals on Wheels program is another way to give of oneself.

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