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FAIRFIELD – Milestones Area Agency on Aging will serve its final congregate meal at the Fairfield Community Center on Thursday, March 27, but residents should know this does not mean the end of meals at the site.

The agency has run out of funding for the Fairfield site and will cease delivering meals. Congregate meals had been a staple of Fairfield for many years, and were served every weekday at 11:30 a.m., though that schedule was reduced to Monday-Thursday a few months ago.

Fairfield Community Center wants the public to know that, though Milestones’ participation in the meals is ending, the meals themselves will not. Fairfield Community Center board members Kathy and Francis Horn said the community center will begin cooking its own meals on site to serve to the public every Wednesday. Just as before, the Wednesday meal will be followed by a game of bingo. The cost of the meal will be $6.

Kathy said the community center is not receiving any government funds or any outside funding to continue the meals, and she hopes it will remain a great opportunity for people to gather for food and have a good time.

The community center board decided to host a weekly meal on Wednesday because that is the best-attended day already, because so many people come to play bingo afterward. Kathy said bingo days draw about 30 people, compared to the 5-10 who eat the other days of the week.

Francis said the community center hopes its weekly meals will be self-sustaining, and the board is modeling them after the success of the community meals in Eldon, which has done them for three decades. Eldon serves two meals per week and attracts about 50-60 people.

Francis said the board is tentatively planning on delivering meals in town. Later, the board hopes to serve two meals per week, if the weekly meals prove popular. The board plans to start serving its own meals in April.

“We feel we owe it to the people who have been coming to continue this,” Francis said. “We’re trying to get people out, where they can have time away from home.”

The community center wanted to show its appreciation for the Milestones’ employees who assist with the Fairfield meals, and had a personalized cake waiting for them when they came to work on Wednesday. Tammy Tuttle, Milestones Area Program Coordinator and formerly the head chef in Fairfield, said the gesture was heartwarming.

“It’s bittersweet because I’m going to miss everybody,” Tuttle said. “I’m going to miss the people I work with and the people who came in to eat.”

Tuttle said that Milestones had to make the difficult decision to end its meals in Fairfield, though it will continue to make home deliveries in Mt. Pleasant, and maintain its congregate meal sites in Keosauqua and Salem. The meal delivery service for Fairfield residents will be changing to the company Mom’s Meals.

After Thursday’s meal, Tuttle will be out of a job, along with Nutrition Center Manager Madge Schmitter and delivery driver and kitchen helper Kathy Davidson. All three ladies were honored on the cake by name. Tuttle said that, more than the pain of losing her job, she and the others were sad that Milestones is losing a congregation.

“We’re not going to be serving our wonderful clients that we have here,” she said. “That’s the sad part.”