Every Thursday, senior citizens in La Center and beyond gather at the La Center Wheel Club Community Center for a free hot meal and free groceries. Their experience as patrons has not changed, but the logistics behind the scenes sure have.
As the Meals on Wheels People received federal funding losses leading to budget cuts, service models at Clark County satellite sites changed. In La Center, the organization opted to cut two on-site cooks, leading to the weekly luncheon becoming a La Center Lions Club event, but still with food prepared off-site by Meals On Wheels.
On Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the luncheon, formerly a Meals on Wheels People event, is now the La Center Lions Senior Lunch. The La Center Lions Club hosted their first senior lunch after the logistical changes on Thursday, Oct. 2, and hopes more seniors will continue to arrive each Thursday to the Wheel Club Community Center at 1000 East Fourth Street in La Center.
“[Meals on Wheels People] provided two cooks to come on out here and prepare the hot meal,” La Center Lions Club President Jason Rivers said. “Now the cooks would also be in charge of all the logistics, how things were ran, you know, that kind of thing. But now, since they lost their funding, the cooks are no longer coming out here. What they will still do at the Luepke Center in Vancouver is they will continue to prepare the hot meals for us. … So basically, the biggest thing is they are not sending out full-time employees. They are still providing us the hot meal and we will get donations from the local grocery stores.”
Rivers added that La Center Mayor Tom Strobehn’s private company has volunteered to deliver the food from the Luepke Center in Vancouver for the Lions Club volunteers to serve during the luncheon.
The decision to cut cooks after a loss of federal funding drove budget cuts has greatly disappointed Lions Club member Linda Johnson, who has volunteered at the luncheon for 15 years.
“I was frustrated because I didn’t understand how they could cut the employees,” Johnson said. “It’s only four hours max that they couldn’t afford to have somebody come up when we have eight or nine volunteers that come and do it. That was my disappointment. They said there were budget cuts, so we’ve dealt with it. We don’t get mileage. We don’t get paid. They don’t compensate you in any way. We just do it because we want to. To me, they’re not serving the seniors how they should. I think there should be other cuts, but not this.”
For the senior citizens attending, they are incredibly thankful that the service is continuing with the logistical changes. Nick Leingang heavily relies on the free lunch and especially the groceries.
“We’re starting to have issues with the wife and she no longer cooks or drives,” Leingang said. “I’m not a cook, and this is a lifesaver for me because especially the food that we’re able to take home. She loves salad,s and that really helps me. I can reheat. I’m really good at reheating. I try to get creative when I can, but yeah, this is a big, big deal for us.”
Steve Marling, who lives between Yacolt and Amboy, drives to La Center in order to retrieve free groceries at the senior lunch. Marling said the Ridgefield and Amboy senior lunch do not offer groceries, and are now on the same day, limiting his options.
“This is the only one now that you can get this stuff,” Marling said of the La Center Lions Club Senior Lunch. “And that’s a major part of my livelihood for food. I’m 81 years old. I may not look it, and I’m still compos mentis, but this is a godsend.”
Marling put the importance into dollars. Before he started coming to Meals on Wheels People luncheons, he would spend $300 to $400 per month at the grocery store. Now his costs are around $150 per month at the grocery store for other everyday necessities.
Marling added that he doesn’t believe the Trump Administration has accounted for the damages to American senior citizens that certain federal cuts have caused.
“There was a lot of funding that needed cutting, and I don’t have a problem with that, but let’s look at the effect on the people who need that funding before we make those decisions,” Marling said, “and I don’t think they did. That’s my personal opinion.”
For Rivers, the biggest aspect of the senior luncheon for himself and the Lions Club is the socialization and groceries provided during the event each week.
“A lot of them are on fixed incomes, and for them to be able to get groceries, some say they could not afford groceries otherwise,” Rivers said. “I’ve heard some of these testimonies from these different individuals about how financially strapped they are. So if we took this away, it would have a huge impact for our seniors.”
