(Spirit Lake)– Some big changes are on the way for the Northwest Aging Association’s Dinner Date program.
Cynthia Beauman is Executive Director of the Spencer-based agency that serves a nine county area of northwest Iowa. She tells KUOO news the agency’s Senior Nutrition Program, which provides Dinner Date, faces a 56-thousand dollar deficit for the fiscal year that started July 1st. For the 2005 fiscal year it’s estimated to grow to 100-thousand dollars.
Compounding the problem, Beauman says, is a decline in those going to Dinner Date. She says the lowest attendance is among those age 60 to 75…which is also the fastest growing segment of the aging population. Beauman says many view the program as a government hand-out and are too proud to accept it.
Beauman says Northwest Aging’s Board of Directors have sent requests for proposals to food service providers as they look into the possibility of contracting it out. Only two proposals were returned, and Beauman says they both came in with a higher than expected cost. Beauman says the board will meet Wednesday to review the proposals. She says there’s a very real possibility both proposals could be rejected. If that’s the case, Beauman says they’ll look at other options…such as closing more Dinner Date kitchens.
Four kitchens were closed a year or so ago in a cost cutting consolidation.
