Lewis County Seniors Nonprofit Looks to Regain Control of Meals on Wheels Program

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You’d think that Lewis County Seniors (LCS) operates a Meals on Wheels program given the hundreds of seniors they deliver pre-made meals to every month. Since the pandemic, they’ve converted their Twin Cities senior center to a meal-prep hub, and have gotten meals into the hands of often-isolated seniors even during the recent snowstorm.

But the Meals on Wheels program, awarded on contract by the regional Area Agency on Aging, has been controlled by a much larger organization — Catholic Community Services — for several years. Now, LCS wants it back. 

Executive Director Glenda Forga says LCS used to operate the program, and much more, before things were “slowly fragmented off” throughout the years.

“This was a very large operation in Lewis County in one point in time,” she said. “And when I was hired in October of 1999, all the pieces were together.”

LCS will bid on the contract this July. And with all the work they’ve done during the pandemic, they’re fairly confident they’ll be able to wrestle back control. 

“Part of it is proving ourselves to them,” Pe Ell site manager Nora Davis said. “And we’ve definitely done that.”

Because of the COVID-19 emergency, LCS is allowed to deliver meals to seniors’ homes or through delivery drop points despite not holding the Meals on Wheels contract. Since last March, the program has exploded, with meals served more than quadrupling — it’s given LCS the chance to shine and confirm their ability to operate a Meals on Wheels program. 

“We invented the wheel as we went, and all our jobs have completely changed,” Davis said. 

Davis and Forga also say their program has highlighted that too many local seniors were going “underserved” by Catholic Community Services, a large agency that they see as not plugged into the community. Unlike Catholic Community Services, LCS used to be a county agency and still regularly reports to the Board of County Commissioners. They’ve also played a role in getting seniors connected to COVID-19 vaccines.

Glenda points to her familiarity to the area as one reason why LCS could successfully run the Meals on Wheels program. 

“I’m from here. I’ve lived here all my life. I know this county like the back of my hand,” she said. 



If LCS is not awarded the contract, they’ll have to turn over their homebound clients to Catholic Community Services as soon as it’s safe for seniors to return to congregate sites. Their chances of regaining control of the program will be boosted if they’re awarded money from the Building Community Fund, a grant funded through the state that could finance a larger kitchen at the Twin Cities senior center to serve as a production hub for the nonprofit. 

A larger kitchen in the works could show that LCS is already working to increase capacity. 

LCS had an interview for the grant program, and is now waiting to see if the state Legislature will fund it. If so, LCS could build a larger kitchen — a project likely to cost near a million dollars — and dedicate two to three staff members to produce Meals on Wheels food. 

Increased freezer capacity means they could have a backlog of frozen meals to deliver to seniors. 

And even without a Meals on Wheels program, Forga says the kitchen could still be instrumental to other expansions, like more nutrition sites around the county, where seniors can get hot meals and socialize two days a week. The nonprofit is trying to expand their reach to more isolated areas, where seniors are less able to drive to a senior center.

As exciting as the possibility of expansion and a Meals on Wheels program is, LCS is simultaneously staring down the potential for calamity. In June, a month before they bid on the Meals on Wheels contract, their FEMA funding will expire. No alternative funding source has been identified. 

“My only option is find more money or lay people off,” Forga told county commissioners Tuesday. With fewer staff, she said, they would be “working our fingers to the bone.”

According to Davis, the situation would be similar to the first few months of the pandemic, when operations ramped up exponentially with too few sets of hands. She remembers some staffers working 21 long days in a row. 

But even with the grim possibility on the horizon, LCS is optimistic about their future. They have plans for things like a joint senior/child daycare — a growing trend of intergenerational care that can improve outcomes for Alzheimer's patients and young kids. 

“The sky’s the limit. And we’ve already proven that through this last year,” Forga siad. “There’s so much energy and excitement right now.”