Tough times call for tough measures.

With funding flat from the federal government, donations down, equipment aging and expenses rising, SeniorsPlus has had to make cutbacks to balance its budget.

The agency will close its two kitchens in Lewiston and Wilton on Fridays until July. The kitchens provide about 2,300 meals a week to senior citizens in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, said Vivian Howe, community service program manager, who works out of a Lewiston center.

The decision also means that the agency’s 12 dining sites will not open Fridays and meals won’t be delivered on those days, Howe said.

However, kitchen staff plan to double up on cooking meals so that the 350 people receiving Meals on Wheels home deliveries each week will receive the same number of meals a week as they do now, Howe said.

There are 20 paid employees affected by this, Howe said, a lot of them part-time.

Kitchen workers and meal deliverers in the nutrition program have been cut back to four days a week, she said.

The money the agency has isn’t enough to continue to serve the number of meals it has been putting out, Howe said.

A waiting list, too

The agency also has a waiting list of 103 people waiting for delivery services, said Sandy Gregor, a Wilton community center coordinator.

One home-delivered meal costs the agency $5.84.

The meals are free to the people, although the agency asks for a donation of $2.50 per meal. But the people are often unable to afford that, Howe said.

In February, the agency received an average of 87 cents donation per meal.

Expenses like gasoline for delivery vans, vehicle repairs and health insurance for employees have increased, but their federal funding and customer donations have not.

“I think everybody feels unsettled in this economy situation,” she said.

Things are so tight at the agency that when a large, computerized convection oven broke down in Wilton last month, Gregor had to call on five local banks for donations to get it repaired because the agency didn’t have the more than $1,200 it was going to take to fix it.

Meals kept going out but the kitchen staff had to do a lot of juggling, she said.

Help came quickly

Bank officials responded right away, with each providing $250 for the repair, Gregor said.

“It was a crisis situation. They needed the oven as quickly as possible,” said Gordon Flint, a representative of Androscoggin Bank. “It was very important to support the elderly and for Meals on Wheels to get back online as quickly as possible.”

The program never stopped but the menus changed frequently, Gregor said.

“When it rains, it pours,” Howe said.

Steam kettles at the Lewiston kitchen are down, Howe said, and there is no money to repair them.

The agency is conducting its annual fund-raisers including penny drives, bottle drives and car washes to help match federal money to support its programs.

“We’re hoping that closing on Fridays is temporary,” Howe said. “But we’re not sure things will be much better next year…. We’ll probably be doing some major fund-raising.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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