“I need to talk to someone about getting home delivered meals.”
That’s one of the most common responses I get when answering the phone at the Cassville Senior Center where I work as the Center Lead for SeniorAge.
SeniorAge works in partnership with local senior center boards to offer meals and services across 17 counties and 30+ senior centers, and is probably best known for the hot lunches served in the senior center throughout the week and our home delivered meal program.
SeniorAge and the senior centers, though, offer so much more than just a meal.
During various times throughout the year, SeniorAge provides Medicare assistance during open enrollment, assists seniors with completing their taxes during tax season, and helps seniors sign up for farmer’s market vouchers.
We provide general information and assistance — if someone calls looking for information on local senior housing, needs to find a dentist who accepts Medicaid, wants a list of food pantries in the area, or even calls just wanting to know the hours the local post office is open — we try to find and provide that information.
We offer benefit enrollment assistance, finding out if our seniors are eligible for programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and LIHEAP and then assisting with the application process.
We offer telephone reassurance — a friendly voice over the phone calling our seniors to check-in and just say, “Hello.”
At the Cassville Senior Center, there is a monthly foot clinic, activities like Bingo, Dominoes, cards and card making. Many centers offer exercise classes — here at Cassville, a volunteer leads a yoga class once a week. An amazing volunteer provides telephone reassurance; calling our home delivered customers and those in-center diners we may not have seen in a few days, just to make sure everyone is okay and being that friendly voice through the phone asking how they are doing.
Of course, we have our hot meal served Monday through Friday, cooked and served by a wonderful kitchen staff. Everyone is welcome to come and join us, whether the meal is eaten at the center or taken to-go, with the suggested donation for those 60-plus of $3.50 and the price of $7 for those under 60. We also have the home delivered meal program, available to those 60 and older, which provides meals to our in-home customers in Cassville and the surrounding areas within Barry County.
As I get new home delivered meal customers set up for meals, I’m also checking to see if they are eligible for any benefits, if they need help in the home, such as housekeeping, or if they are in need of any adaptive equipment that we can provide to them — equipment like shower chairs, walkers, and wheelchairs.
There’s so much more to SeniorAge and the senior centers than just a meal, but even if that is all one of our seniors wants, we want our center to be a welcoming place where a person is greeted by our staff and volunteers with a smile and can eat a meal while enjoying the company of others. Our home-delivered meals are brought by our volunteer drivers, who greet our seniors when they come with the weekly delivery of meals, bringing them to the door or assisting in putting them away.
Each senior center may offer different activities and have different menus, but we all want to offer the same thing. We are here for our seniors who come in or call for assistance, who wish to participate in activities we offer, who simply want to enjoy the company of others, or who need meals delivered to them.
That is the goal of the staff and volunteers across SeniorAge and at the senior centers – helping others, finding solutions and bettering lives.
Kristina Atwood is the SeniorAge Center Lead and HCBS Assessor at the Cassville Senior Center. She may be reached at 417-847-4510 or kristina. atwood@senioragemo.org.
