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Elderbridge Dealing With Funding Challenges

December 03, 2024 Steve Schwaller

(Spirit Lake)– An agency that serves older residents in 29 northwest Iowa counties is facing challenges due to decreased funding. Shelly Sindt, CEO of Elderbridge Agency on Aging, says they’re having to rely more on fundraisers, donations and sponsorships as state and federal funding is drying up…

“We had an overall reduction in funding. ARPA dollars ran out. No additional funding at federal or state level was given us. We haven’t had an increase in a decade. So we had to trim about $1.5 million from our budget.”

Sindt says they’ve taken special precautions to limit the impact on meal services…

“We prioritized those services and made sure we could continue to provide meals at the level we were.”

Sindt adds 35 percent of the population of Dickinson county is age 60 and over.

She also announced she’ll be retiring from Elderbridge Agency on Aging at the end of this coming June, after 27 years of service. Sindt gave her annual report at today’s (Tues.) Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting.

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