Senior dining expected to return to Washington in 2020

WASHINGTON - With resources for the elderly population slowly dwindling, one organization is looking to reverse that. The Heritage Area Agency on Aging is looking into the possibility of bringing back senior dining to Washington.

Co-director Jill Sindt said the organization does not currently have a footprint in the city but is looking to change that. The organization helps fund the Lending Hands Adult Day service but does not otherwise have an office or support events.

However, Sindt said Heritage used to have a dining site in Washington but it has since been closed. After taking a closer look to identify if bringing one back would be necessary, Sindt said staff discovered it would be beneficial.

'We found that Washington County has become a food desert and what I mean by that is there is some difficulty with accessibility to nutritious meals and transportation in order to get there,” she said.

Based on census data recorded from 2010-2017, there were 5,600 people over the age of 60 living in Washington County, which is about 25.5 percent of the total population.

'Based on that, we've really seen that there's a high need for nutritious services to be implemented,” she said.

Sindt said the potential program Heritage could bring would be a congregate meal program. It would use federal dollars and target the most frail and at-risk citizens in the county and based on contributions. She said the fee has not yet been set but is expected to be minimal at about $5.

A similar program has been established in Linn County through a nutrition and wellness grant. She said the county was chosen because it had the highest decline in the state for congregate site users. Through research, they found out there were places within Marion, the library and Lowe Park, that individuals were meeting regularly.

After negotiations with the mayor and city council, Sindt said places like the library and public park were offered in-kind as long as Heritage found a food provider. They were able to secure Hy-Vee to cater and in two years went from serving zero meals to 17,348 meals.

'So we found a service that people really enjoyed,” she said, explaining there were multiple options from salad bar offerings to entrees. There was no set time for people to come eat, but instead a window where individuals could drop in when it fit their schedule the best.

'We feel that we can replicate this product in Washington County so we are seeking out sites,” she said.

Sindt said she feels this idea of a pop-up eatery, which they have dubbed the Encore Cafe, would work well in Washington County. While venues are still being researched, she said the program could come to Washington at the end of June 2020 and begin serving meals in August 2020.