Casino to Help Feed Seniors

As we all have heard, the country is in a recession which is leading to everyone cutting expenses including state government.

Here in Oklahoma budget cuts are affecting a senior nutrition program which provides free meals once a day Monday through Friday to people ages 60 and older.

The meals are delivered by volunteers to homebound seniors while those that can get out meet at their local senior citizen center.

Because of the cutbacks, this week many seniors across the state will not receive any meals or they will lose at least one meal a week.

Here in north central Oklahoma, the Whearheart Nutrition Program has been searching for ways to guarantee no senior will go hungry.

The board voted in late October to stop serving meals on Fridays but continue to deliver food to the homebound even if it is a sack lunch.

Nov. 6 was to be the first Friday of no food for some but thanks to the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino, seniors in Ponca City will continue to eat.

Oklahoma Rep. Ken Luttrell broke the good news today at the senior center. He was joined by Chris White, general manager of the casino.

"Because of the lack of action at the state capital, I have taken an aggressive approach to this situation," said Luttrell.

"This issue touches my heart and I'm excited to say that the Osage Casino has agreed to sponsor meals on Fridays for the next 10 weeks."

White told the crowd that he grew up respecting his elders.

"I'm glad that we are able to help," he said. "We can do this because of our casino guests. So we are fortunate that we can give back to the community."

Seniors cheered after hearing the news.

Now for some background on the issue.

The saga began when Oklahoma Department of Human Services Director Howard H. Hendrick agreed to cut the state's nutrition program budget by $7.4 million with no input from legislators.

Money for the food program is given to DHS by legislators.

Sen. David Myers explained that legislators made a special effort to keep the program level in the midst of all the cuts.

"He ignored this request," said Myers. "We do not have any control over these agencies. Once we give them the money it is out of our control. However, if we do not like the way they handle the money, they might not get it again next year. We can get even," said Myers.

The news of the cuts made its way to the program's workers and seniors.

In Kay County the Blackwell location is the central kitchen.

Site Manager Vonda Cross said food for at least 400 senior citizens is prepared at the site by paid workers and then delivered by volunteers.

Cross explained that the program not only provides food for the seniors but also a social time and a visitor for some.

"For some, our volunteer is the only person the senior sees everyday," she said.

Soon after the budget cut announcement , a group of legislatures met with Hendrick to discuss options.

Later that day Myers reported that DHS made the cuts because of regulations in place.

"He wants the legislature to appropriate extra money to pay for this and we do not have the extra money," said Myers. "Plus if we could appropriate the extra money, we have no guarantee the money would go to the program. It could go anywhere."

Myers said DHS has other programs that could be cut but Hendrick believed the nutrition program would be the least painful.

After all of this, i took to the road and headed to Tonkawa, Oklahoma to get the opinions of seniors who depend on this program.

There I found several people that had no fear of talking to the media.

"This is absolutely wrong," said Arlene Thomas. "This is the only balanced meal some of us get everyday."

Gladys Kreger Simmons agreed with Thomas and added that meal time is special. "If this program disappears it will send a lot of people to the nursing homes. Plus we would miss seeing each other everyday."

Loretta Smith said she would worry about the seniors who have meals delivered. "I would worry about the folks at home," she said. "For some that is their only visitor and only good meal everyday."

Glenn Craft said he wouldn't mind the program taking the cut if the cuts were across the board.

Jolene Harrison pointed out that not all seniors can cook for themselves and losing this one meal a day would be disastrous for some.

Barbara Humphries said its not just about the food but also the socializing.

"Its is a fun time," said Humphries.

Doris Morgan pointed out that the free meal is the reason some seniors get out of bed each day.

Myers added that there is nothing the legislator can do. "We are not in session and only the governor can call a special session," said Myers. "It would cost $4-5 hundred thousand to call a special session and financially we can't justify that. And even if we could allocate more money we still have the fear if it would go to the right place. Hendrick has put us in a situation that we can't get out of."

The following day, the Wheatheart Board met in Enid to discuss options.

Tonkawa senior Arlene Thomas was there to make sure the voices of her friends in Tonkawa was heard.

Six of the eight board members met for an hour and half and debated the issues including whether or not Wheatheart employees should be given 38 or 44 furlough days a year and whether or not homebound seniors should lose a free meal on Fridays.

Marianne Gutierrez, Wheatheart project director, explained that the board needs to reduce the budget by $236,130.

"Our goal today can't be to produce no harm," she said. "So our goal will be to do the least harm."

She summarized the cost cutting measures in the state approved plan that includes reducing office supplies for a savings of $3,006; workers quit attending conferences for a savings of over $1,673 and repeat menu cycles instead of changing four times a year for a savings of $1,200.

She spoke about eliminating the kitchen in Perry, Oklahoma which would result in at least two job losses.

"Its hard, we are talking about real people with real bills," said Gutierrez. "But that location is hard to staff and it is not centrally located and we will save $4,718 on maintenance expenses."

Board member Dean Courtwright, who represents Noble County where the town of Perry is located said "You are talking about closing the location in my town, you better get me something stronger to drink before I go back home."

Disgusted with the thought of closing the Perry kitchen, Courtwright shared his thoughts about the situation and DHS which he referred to as " The Department of Human Sacrifice."

"We have got to look at what is best for everybody," he said. "Closing for a month is not a good idea and the state will not allow that. It is funny they can approve everything but money for us. Our politicians can redo the capital right now, but when they need some money they cut the seniors first. They have already feathered their nest egg so they have no compassion and that aggravates me. I sit here and think about the money that bailed out banks and those banks are giving bonuses. I don't know that even DHS knows how much money they have. They have way to much power and handle too much money. Funding should go somewhere else instead of there where it gets lost."

Sen. Patrick Anderson, Enid, attended the meeting and told the board that DHS has been put in a situation where they didn't have options." I met with Howard Hendrick, DHS Director, last week and the problem is we propped up their budget with federal stimulus dollars and half of the DHS budget could not be cut," said Anderson. "The legislature is going to have to allocate out of the rainy day funds or some other bucket of money"

After much discussion the board voted to close the Perry kitchen and make the location a satellite site; move the Enid kitchen to Garber and stop serving meals on Fridays but continue to deliver something to the homebound.

Thomas made sure she spoke before the board made its decisions.

"I go down there and pay $2 a meal," said Thomas. "You can't imagine how upset these people are about these cuts. Some have had strokes and can't make their own food. Now they are grieving because they will not be going there everyday. They want me to be their voice. It breaks my heart to see what is happening. They are heartsick. We are the people that raised you and now all we want is a simple a meal and to meet with people. We are the richest country in the world and we can't afford to feed our seniors. This is not right."

The Wheatheart Nutrition program is free to seniors over the age of 60. Seniors can donate $2 or more or less for a meal if they wish.

Thomas said some of the seniors are willing to pay an additional .50 cents for their meal.

After the decision was made to end the meals on Fridays.

Churches and other entities sprung into action to try and figure out what to do.

The results are: The casino helping Ponca City seniors; The City of Blackwell is working with the Ministerial Alliance and individuals to keep the Blackwell center open; churches in Tonkawa will keep Tonkawa seniors eating as well churches in Newkirk assisting Newkirk seniors.

The University Place Church's Soup Kitchen in Enid, and the City of Perry are helping out in their communities.

Also, Carl's Apple Market, in Medford will provide meals for seniors on some Fridays and the First Assembly of God Church in Pond Creek has committed to providing meals.

Brandi Atkinson who works with the Area Agency on Aging said officials are still searching for solutions to the problem and that donations would be accepted.

She suggested ways to help.

"Organizations can take one Friday and supply a meal," she said.

"Food distributors can donate food to be cooked by church volunteers. Donations can be used to buy meals and partner with restaurants that will discount meals and volunteers could serve them. Individuals can make donations in their parent's name to the nutrition site. Though Wheatheart staff cannot work on the days closed, the site can be opened. The meal will need to be supplied and served by volunteers as well as all food and paper goods donated." "In smaller sites like Billings, it would take around $30 to feed the whole site on a Friday and $100 in Ponca City one of the bigger sites. Any and all assistance will be appreciated."

For information on how to help call 580-262-0303.