The Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce presented a $500 donation to the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic recently.

Chamber Executive Director Joy Stump said the donation served as proceeds from the chamber’s recently held golf tournament.

“I feel it is important that we always try to give back to the great organizations doing really important work in our community,” Stump said.

Heart of Virginia Free Clinic Director Pat Payne said she was unaware of the donation prior to the presentation.

“We have a tremendous army of people supporting us, and now we have the Chamber of Commerce,” Payne said.

She said the clinic is supported by United Way, Lion’s Club, Rotary Club, VFW, Moose Lodge, Cumberland Clothes Closet, Serendipity Club and 17 churches, including Crewe Methodist Church, Crewe Baptist Church, Worsham Baptist Church, New Life and Farmville United Methodist Church.

The clinic is operated with four volunteer doctors, two volunteer nurse practitioners, four staff members as well as other volunteers who Payne described as “all very committed people.”

She said the people the clinic serves have limited resources.

“They’re working, they don’t make enough money to buy insurance but they make too much money to get Medicare, Medicaid, so they just fall through the cracks,” Payne said. “We’re the net under the crack.”

Patient visits are free but the patients must have an income under 200 percent of the national poverty level, according to Payne.

“So, that means, for an individual who lives alone, they have to make less than $22,000 a year,” Payne said.

She said patients also can’t have insurance of any kind.

Payne said since the clinic opened in 2012, they’ve provided more than 400 mammograms for women without insurance for free — something they’re able to do in part to a partnership with Centra.

“They’ve given us grants to give patients equipment; they’ve given us grants to open our pharmacy,” Payne said. “This year, we have a grant to provide dental appointments for our patients.”