Senior center needs help to maintain services

Thompson Falls Senior Center is facing the possibility of losing funding for their nutrition program if they can’t find a cook for the facility. Sanders County Council on Aging (COA) in Hot Springs funds services that provide nearly 50 seniors a meal twice a week. A stipulation for continued funding is the senior center must find a cook to keep on staff. For the last year, the center has been without a cook and all cooking has been done on a volunteer basis. The facility is not only looking for a head cook, they are also looking to hire an assistant cook and a site manager.

While there are anywhere from one to eight volunteer cooks who have helped keep the services going, the high demand for assistance in the area makes for a long day according to Nancy Gressang, the senior center’s board president. “Our volunteers have been really great, but there are only so many hours you can volunteer,” she said. “We are getting into summer now and I just don’t have the people to maintain the cooking for the nutrition program.”

According to Gressang, if the center is unable to find a cook, they are no longer able to participate in the nutrition program that is hosted by COA. “The nutrition program not only helps seniors, but it helps and impacts those who can’t or those not wanting to cook for themselves,” Gressang stated. Part of the nutrition program includes a meal delivery service to resident’s homes, which operates five days a week. The board president says all these services will stop if the center loses financial assistance. The center’s senior commodity program and ensure supplement program will continue as long as they can continue to pay monthly bills.

If a cook can’t be found, the first recourse, Gressang says, is to find a local restaurant that could cook the meals. “We’ve been looking around, but none of the restaurants can handle the demand,” she said. Gressang has turned to Job Services for help, and while they have been working on finding a cook for the last 10 months, they’ve had no luck.

While COA provides an employed cook and covers food costs, the working partnership between the two allows the senior center to provide a kitchen and cooking availability. “It’s a win-win relationship,” Gressang said. Additional funding the center stands to lose helps pay for heating, electricity and property insurance. Gressang’s guess as to why they haven’t been able to find a cook is because of COVID-19 relief help people have been receiving. She considers people may still be apprehensive about being around other people as a main factor when looking for a cook. “While we can continue to maintain our building for a while, at some point we will not be able to cover our monthly costs without money from the nutrition program,” she said.

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about the cooking position, contact COA at (406) 741-2343 for more information. Meal times are Monday and Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Meal costs run $5 for people over 60 years of age and $7 for people under 60 years of age.