While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect us all, we are grateful for the many heroes among us. We are familiar with our first responders who are on the front lines each and every day, along with healthcare professionals and teachers who deserve our gratitude. But, there have also been a number of hidden heroes that have stepped up and continued to quietly provide essential services to some of our most vulnerable citizens. This includes the employees and volunteers who have worked throughout the crisis to provide curbside meals at the Mentor Senior Center.
Senior Centers across the state closed in March in order to slow the spread of the disease, but with that decision came concern over the impact it would have on the Center’s low-cost hot lunch program.
For many seniors this was the one hot nutritious meal they had all day. As we all know, the senior population is the most affected by the deadly disease and were told to isolate, refrain from gathering in crowds to lessen the risk of exposure. Even trips to the grocery store were discouraged, and in March delivery options were just beginning to become available, so continuing the meal program was critical.
City Manager Kenneth J. Filipiak quickly determined that it was essential to safely continue the lunch program and plans were put in place for seniors to be able to order meals and pick them up with minimal contact curbside at the Senior Center. These meals filled the gap during the early stages of Ohio’s shutdown and for the first few months, the 100 available daily meals sold out quickly.
In the beginning, Senior Center staff (with help from other agencies and staff from other area senior centers) took on the task of packaging and distributing the meals. A special thanks to the Lake County Senior Services Levy, the Senior Center Board, Little Annie’s Hope Train, the United Way Emergency Food and Shelter Program, Howard’s Jewelry Center, as well as a generous Senior Center member who donated money to help subsidize the cost for seniors.
As we learned more about the virus and transmission, healthy low-risk senior volunteers stepped up to help operate the program. In all 13 senior volunteers now help Kitchen Coordinator Terry Rogers, cook Molly Sebring, and Senior Center Director Renee Ochaya, prepare, package, and safely distribute the curbside meals. Volunteers wear masks and gloves and place meals in the car trunk to avoid contact.
“The volunteers are key to the program. We couldn’t do it without them. Not only are they providing an essential service to fellow seniors, their help allows the cost for meals to remain affordable,” says Ochaya.
Cost for meals remains at just $4.50. All meals are made from scratch and are designed to provide balanced nutrition. Typical menu items include chicken piccata, breaded pork chop, pasta with meat sauce, cabbage rolls and even roast turkey.
Demand has somewhat decreased over the last several month to about 60 meals per day now that Ohio’s economy has reopened and grocery and delivery services firmly established, but the program remains in place and ready to serve.
When the Senior Center does finally reopen, Ochaya anticipates that normal pre-Covid programs will be phased in, and that the curbside meal program will continue for several months to accommodate those more-vulnerable seniors who are not quite ready to return.
To date, over 12,000 thousand Curbside Meals have been ordered and distributed. We extend our gratitude to these hidden heroes – the Senior Center staff and volunteers that continue to provide this essential service to area seniors.
The Weekly Curbside Meal menu is listed on the Senior Center’s Facebook page as well as mentorseniorcenter.com. Meals may be ordered beginning the Thursday prior to the upcoming week. Lunch reservations are $4.50 per meal and can be made online or by phone at 440-974-5725 and paid for with a credit card. Seniors are encouraged to order online if possible.