Another way CAC is helping: Empty Stocking Fund is committed to providing 3,000 holiday meal boxes, with your help Community Action Agencies (CAAs) were established across the United States under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which sought to eliminate poverty in America through federal, state and locally funded programs. There are now more than 1,000 CAAs in the U.S. and there's been a national effort to honor the 60th anniversary, which also coincides with other landmark legislative acts such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. “There was just a lot of things that happened during that period that are really, very meaningful to us today. And, of course, it's also important (for) people who are coming along who didn't really live through that period of time and didn’t really know about it.” Though it’s been 45 years since CAC held an agency celebration, Kelly said there is much to celebrate, especially when reframing the event as a commemoration of community involvement. “It's not just CAC because it's the stay of the volunteers, the public support that we have, it's the participants that let us into their lives, sometimes when they're not having a particularly good day,” Kelly said. “It’s the people who come and who commit themselves to the things that we’re doing, are the ones who achieve the success.” Artece Slay is one of those committed people. “CAC used to be a place of refuge for me,” Slay told Knox News. “I would come up here during the summertime, go to the library, sit out in the atrium, get snacks from the vending machine.” Slay got her first job in the late 1980s as a teen through CAC’s summer youth employment program. She then returned in 2009 as an assistant manager of the program. Now she’s a CAC education specialist in the Western Heights area. “It’s beautiful. It gives me purpose,” Slay said of working at the same agency that helped her as a teen. She struggled to describe CAC’s impact over the past 60 years. “I wouldn’t even be able to put that into words. There are so many families that have been impacted by CAC,” Slay said, explaining that the agency’s reach extends beyond its facility walls. “I think (CAC has) served not just the low-income people that we were initially mandated to serve, but that we really serve the entire community, by providing access to opportunities for service and also lifting up some of the concerns that the most vulnerable among us (have),” Kelly said. Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter @dturner1208. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe. Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee employees (from left) Brianna Hanson, Joyce Billingsley and Artece Slay have fun with the photo booth during the organization's 60th anniversary celebration on Nov. 7. Decorative logos were on display at the 60th anniversary celebration of Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee at CAC's Ross Building on Nov. 7.