Senior citizen luncheons pause until early March

Big changes are ahead for the senior lunch program, after a brief delay.

by Marsha Chartrand

“Sometimes it seems like we take two steps forward and one and a half steps back,” mused Pat Vailliencourt while talking about the latest blow to the Manchester Area Senior Services Council.

In December, longtime cook Rebecca Paul needed to retire permanently from her position due to her health. No one who is certified as a Serve Safe cook has stepped forward — either for a paid or a volunteer position — to help the seniors continue the meal program at Emanuel UCC, where it has been located for decades.

The County meal program on which the seniors have been waiting final approval since October is unable to provide its free senior meal program to Manchester until all paperwork has been finalized. Part of that paperwork includes certification of permanent disability access at Emanuel, which has been under construction since last summer.

Although the disability access project at Emanuel is drawing to a close, the seniors have located an alternate site for the delivery of free County meals. But again, there’s a hook.

“It looks like it will be first of March before we can get this all arranged,” Vailliencourt said. “We will not be preparing the meals, so we don’t have to have a fully certified cook. There will, however, be some County-provided training and certification in February for serving staff who may be either volunteer or paid. A new location for the meals will be announced shortly, and it will be a year-round program with meals continuing through the summer as well.”

Financially, she explained, the seniors have realized for some time that they could not afford to pay a cook twice a week, along with rental for the Emanuel kitchen, but have struggled to continue trying to make it happen. “When looking for options, we came upon the county meals, which are free to us, and we can make this a sustainable program,” Vailliencourt continued. “The most important issue right now is that this is definitely a dine-in program, and we will need to have a stable number of seniors gathering with us to eat every Tuesday and Thursday.

“The purpose of this program, for the County, is to provide not only food but social connections to our senior citizens. We are excited to be able to offer this to Manchester seniors soon and create a bridge during this transition until we have a permanent home.”

Meanwhile, the Ackerson building, where the seniors meet for activities and fellowship, had to be closed due to heating issues last week. It is still being offered on a month-to-month rental basis by its new owner. It is hoped that the senior room will have heat some time the week of January 7 so that activities and other programs will be able to resume.

Also, WAVE bus runs will continue, but there won’t be regular Tuesday/Thursday runs while the meal programming is on hold. Watch the Manchester Area Senior Citizens, Michigan|Facebook page for updates.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.