Advertisement An example is the La Crosse County Aging Unit, which sponsors 15 meal sites where menus focus on nutrition, socialization is a drawing card and lasting friendships are made. The sites provide a world of happiness to hundreds of participants who otherwise might be sitting alone in their homes.
Noreen Kuroski, aging unit director, explains: “Our office administers the sites, which are operated Monday through Friday year-round. They are funded through the Older Americans Act along with state of Wisconsin contributions. The county matches 20 percent of OAA funds. A $3 donation is suggested from each person who participates in a meal. If this is unaffordable, we follow a ‘give whatever you can’ rule.”
Meals come from various food providers. Besides being served at nutrition sites, they also are delivered to homebound people.
How do seniors help seniors at these locations? I visited the 27-year-old nutrition site at the village hall in Holmen, Wis., where spokeswoman Bonnie Page, 62, was quick to point to senior citizens as the “stars” of the operation.
She directed me to the kitchen, where, on this particular Tuesday, I savored the meaning of the “stars.” There, Norma Burton, 85, Betty Tyler, 70, and Darlene Burrows and Eileen Young, both 69, were setting up for the day’s meal. They arrived at 10 a.m. and wouldn’t leave until after clean-up that follows serving scheduled until 1:30 p.m.
For the foursome and about 25 others at this site, a meal awaited them. But this is not the primary reason for volunteering on Tuesdays. “We all love socializing, and we have fun,” Norma says.
They get the steamer going to keep food warm when it is delivered from the provider.
Next, dates are stamped on covers placed over meals and on bags for the meals delivered to the homebound. “Some people have special diets, so we need to take note that the right food gets to the right person,” says Betty.
Then they concentrate on the nutrition site itself doing things like making the coffee (“We have to have coffee,” states Darlene.) And there is silverware to wrap, the serving line to set up, dining area tables to wipe clean and much more.
Eileen explains their mission: “It feels good to do a job that needs doing. As wives and mothers, we have been feeding people all of our lives. I remember my mother-in-law being homebound, and how she would be ‘picked up’ when she got her meal each day. It was as much about contact with the people delivering the meal as it was about getting the food.”
Norma, 20 years a nutrition-site volunteer, notes: “We’d really miss this if we wouldn’t come here” to help out. Co-volunteers nod agreement.
So all comers are served a nutritious meal following U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines (the menu this day was hamburger steak with mushrooms and onions, baked potato, stewed tomatoes, spice cake and wheat bread). Meals are enjoyed in an atmosphere that on any given day might include music by country and western’s Kenny Rogers or Johnny Cash, or polka king Frankie Yankovic and perhaps a game of cards or bingo. “It’s hearing the laughter, the teasing that goes on. It’s just wonderful to see that everyone is having a good time,” says Bonnie.
Among frequent visitors to the site is Vera “Sally” Shann, 82, of Holmen, who recently moved to this area from a neighboring state. “I love the meals, and I love to play cards,” she says. “If there wasn’t this outlet, I’d go back home.” She thanks Bonnie and Donna (Johnson, site manager) for the many “nice things” they manage to get done for senior citizens.
Noreen shares that more than 300 senior citizens (on-site servers and deliverers) help make the meals possible. “But it’s not just about nutritional meals. There’s the socialization that actually does as much good. It’s a good time and a way to stay healthy. Occasionally, the time spent together includes educational programs on aging issues.”
Of meals to the homebound, she says: “A year’s worth of home-delivered meals costs less than one day in a hospital. These are meals for $3 a day Monday through Friday. We just need to do the math.”
If you’d like to become a volunteer at one of the county’s nutrition sites, call the Aging Unit at (608) 785-9710 for more information.
Larry Olson can be reached at larry.olson@lacrossetribune.com or address mail to him at La Crosse Tribune, 401 N. Third St., La Crosse, WI 54601.
