The 10 senior centers operated by Catholic Community Service in Southeast Alaska are serving about 50% more meals than they provided before the pandemic hit in 2020. However, tightened budgets and reduced staffing are making it difficult.
Meals counts spiked during the pandemic as seniors stayed home and depended on delivered lunches but, unexpectedly, demand for meals on wheels has not declined much since COVID restrictions were lifted in communities, said Erin Walker-Tolles, executive director of the Juneau-based nonprofit.
The numbers of meals served went from about 82,000 a year at the 10 centers in 2019 to 142,000 at the peak of the pandemic, she said. Since then, the count has dropped only about 10%, to around 130,000.
“There is a huge increase in community needs,” Walker-Tolles said.
Federal pandemic relief money had paid the costs of all those extra meals, but that funding has run out, she explained. Tight budgets have meant staffing and service cutbacks.
The Wrangell Senior Center serves lunch at the building and provides home deliveries four days a week, averaging about 10 people a day in person and 25 to 30 deliveries a day, said manager Solvay Gillen, who is also the chef. A part-time driver works four days a week.
The Wrangell center served meals and was open five days a week until the budget squeeze at Southeast Senior Services, which is part of Catholic Community Service, forced a reduction to four days last year. The center used to have four employees but is down to just two.
Across Southeast, the nonprofit had 120 employees at its senior centers, but is now down to about 80, Walker-Tolles said.
Adding to the financial strain at the Wrangell center, the borough assembly eliminated the annual local contribution to the center from the borough budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. It was $13,500 last year and had been $15,000 in 2016. The assembly agreed to pick up the center’s utilities in lieu of a cash contribution to the program, covering about half of the lost borough funding.
The assembly also eliminated funding for KSTK and the chamber of commerce in this year’s budget, as the borough looked to reduce spending.
The borough owns the building and provides it rent free for the senior services.
The Wrangell Senior Center budget for this year is about $260,000, of which about one-third comes from the state, one-third from federal and tribal sources, and the rest from in-kind services, donations and Medicaid, Walker-Tolles said.
“Our tribal partners are critical to making our senior centers happen,” she added. Sealaska Corp. granted the nonprofit $120,000 last year for its Southeast operations.
The nonprofit operates senior centers in Ketchikan, Klawock, Kake, Wrangell, Sitka, Angoon, Hoonah, Juneau, Haines and Skagway. It started up in 1974 with four centers, expanding over the next decade to serve much of Southeast.
The Wrangell center is seeing the same increase in requests for delivered meals as the other Southeast operations. Wrangell’s split is about three-quarters home-delivered meals and one-quarter in-person lunch.
Coming off pandemic restrictions, the Southeast program expected seniors would return to in-person dining — which had been about half the meals served pre-pandemic — but the numbers tell a different outcome.
Staff last year assessed seniors who were participating in meal programs at the 10 sites and found that about three-quarters needed deliveries, while one-quarter could come in for lunch, Walker-Tolles said.
“A lot of seniors really had an increase in social isolation … it’s a national issue,” she said.
The Wrangell center is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday to help fight that social isolation, providing a place for seniors to gather, watch TV or just visit with friends, Gillen said.
In addition to meals, and a place to visit, the center provides rides for seniors who need to go shopping, pick up their mail or get to a medical appointment. That averages 10 to 15 rides per day, Gillen said.
The center asks $1 per ride but does not turn away anyone who cannot pay. Same thing for meals, Gillen said. The center asks $5 for lunch but does not send out bills and does not deny a meal to anyone.
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