Funding gap leaves vulnerable seniors wait-listed for vital meal service

COEUR d’ALENE — Lake City Center provides a lifeline to hundreds of local seniors through its home-delivered meals program. 

Now the center is asking for the community’s help to feed more of the area’s seniors. 

“Our home-delivered meals program is for the most vulnerable seniors,” said Nancy Phillips, temporary administrative director of Lake City Center. “These are seniors who are homebound. Most of them are isolated. They don’t have family in the area. They’re low-income. They can’t provide food for themselves. A lot of them are unable to cook a meal because of disability.” 

Lake City Center provides about 5,000 meals a month to more than 200 seniors in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Dalton Gardens, Hauser and Huetter. 

It costs the center about $4,800 per month to serve these community members. Some of the funding comes from the Area Agency on Aging and through the Older Americans Act, which lowers the center’s out-of-pocket costs. 

Sage Stoddard, director of the Area Agency on Aging, said nutrition programs throughout the five northern counties make up about half the agency’s annual budget. These include home-delivered meal programs and congregate meal programs. 

The agency reimburses Lake City Center for a portion of each meal, at a rate of $4.20 for congregate meals and $4.50 for home-delivered meals. The Idaho Commission on Aging also provides 25 cents per meal. 

“That does not cover the cost of the meal,” Stoddard said. “I know the senior centers rely on donations from the community to cover the complete cost. Every senior center has different costs.” 

There isn’t enough funding to provide home-delivered meals for all area seniors who need them, Phillips said. In that situation, seniors are prioritized using a point system. 

“Everyone who is on the list is homebound but some are more at risk than others,” Phillips said. “It’s a really hard point system because you have to figure out who is the worst off.” 

Seniors may move off the wait list as slots or funding become available. 

“When I get enough money, I can grab one person,” Phillips said. 

Lake City Center aims to provide meals to wait-listed seniors, too, Phillips said. But there’s no outside funding to offset the costs, making it a heavier lift for the center. 

Providing one wait-listed senior with five meals costs the center about $70 per week, Phillips said. That number represents more than just the base cost of the groceries used to make the meals. It accounts for the costs of the electricity and labor needed to prepare the meals, as well as the costs of transporting the food to the senior who needs it. 

“The hard part, for us, is we don’t like to say no to people,” said Woody McEvers, who became involved with the Lake City Center during his tenure on the Coeur d’Alene City Council. He was recently appointed Coeur d’Alene mayor. “Just saying no doesn’t feel right.” 

Though the center receives some funds from other entities, including the county at the city of Coeur d’Alene, McEvers said the center relies on community donations to keep afloat. 

“It’s up to people to think it’s important,” he said. 

McEvers said delivering meals to homebound seniors is a moving experience. The volunteers who deliver the food often form relationships with the seniors on their routes, getting to know them. 

“For some people, the only contact they have is when their food is delivered,” he said. “It was about food but it’s become much bigger. It’s about safety and connections.” 

To learn more about the home-delivered meals program or donate to Lake City Center, visit www.lakecitycenter.org.