Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Donations Keep Meals On Wheels Going
PRAIRIE GROVE — Lincoln, Farmington and Prairie Grove senior centers deliver 126 meals each day to home-bound seniors in the area and raising money to help with the costs is an almost constant activity.
In Prairie Grove, 40 home-bound senior adults receive a hot meal five days a week through the Meals on Wheels program.
Linda Willkie, director of Prairie Grove Senior Activity and Wellness Center, said she believes 40 people is the most residents who have been on the list for Prairie Grove. She knows it’s the highest since she became director eight years ago.
“And I’m still receiving calls for people who want to be on it,” Willkie said.
To help raise money for Meals on Wheels, senior centers in the area are mailing out postcards asking citizens to remember home-bound senior adults during the Christmas season and in 2017.
A $5 donation helps feed one senior adult one meal for the day, $25 feeds one person for a week and $120 would provide meals for one person for a month. Willkie is hoping businesses and organizations will be willing to give more to possibly feed a senior for a month or two or up to a year. Donations are tax deductible.
“It’s more than a meal,” Willkie said. “It’s someone knocking on your door. It’s checking daily on someone.”
Her volunteers have come across emergencies, such as finding a senior adult who had fallen or was very sick.
Many people think Meals on Wheels is for someone who is poor but the program is not based on income.
To be eligible, candidates must
be 60 or older, homebound and not able to drive anywhere. It’s OK if they have family or others who can take them places. A hot meal is delivered Monday-Friday and at times, frozen meals are left for the weekend.
Tina Batlle, Farmington Senior Center director, said she is fearful centers will have to establish waiting lists if money is not available to meet all the needs for Meals on Wheels. Batlle said Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas, which oversees senior centers in the region, is preparing centers that waiting lists may become a reality in the future.
“We always knew it was coming where we would have more and more to serve,” Batlle said. “It is here.”
The actual cost of each meal is $6, Batlle said. Some residents on Meals on Wheels are able to contribute toward that cost but most cannot.
“We’re a non-profit so we don’t charge,” she added.
Senior centers receive state and federal funding toward their budgets but are still required to raise some of their own money. Farmington’s annual budget is more than $200,000 and Batlle has to raise about $43,000 of that. She said her part of the budget is based on population and seniors in the area.
Farmington delivers homebound meals to 51 residents in Farmington, West Fork and Greenland. In November, for example, the center hand delivered 2,090 meals.
Meals on Wheels no doubt meets a need, said Steve Guthrie, who works for the Farmington Senior Center and has delivered meals for about five years.
“There are some who are absolutely home- bound,” Guthrie said. “You get an idea as to who is well taken care of by family members and those who are a little bit more in need.”
Betty Boone lives in Savannah Park apartments in Farmington and she said she appreciates the hot lunches.
“You wouldn’t believe how much it helps,” Boone said. “I have back and knee problems. I’m really appreciative of Meals on Wheels and they do such a good job. It all tastes good and they always have such a nice meal.”
Lincoln Senior Center delivers hot meals to 35 homebound seniors, according to Sue Parks, center director.
Parks has been on board for about eight months and said she sees the need for the program.
“I have seniors who live on less than $500 per month,” Parks said. “Sometimes the meal we provide is the only meal they have for the day.”
Lincoln Senior Center has to raise about 50 percent of its $90,000 budget and this money is necessary to run the center, employ staff and pay for meals on site and home delivered meals.
“That’s why we have to have fundraisers,” Parks said. “We’re struggling financially right now.”