STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Senior Connection is participating in the 17th annual March for Meals during March—a month-long nationwide celebration of Meals on Wheels.
Meals on Wheels and other services The Senior Connection provide are a lifeline for seniors in Blaine County, helping to keep them well-nourished and more connected to the community, said Teresa Beahen Lipman, executive director of The Senior Connection.
Meals on Wheels delivers more than a hundred meals per week to seniors in 2,661-square-mile Blaine County. Volunteer drivers log 260 miles delivering meals from Carey to seniors north of Ketchum.
Drivers check on the seniors as they deliver the meals, helping to combat social isolation and identify safety hazards.
It costs $5 to feed a senior per meal. You can provide Meals on Wheels for a senior for a year for what it costs for one day in a hospital or 10 in nursing home, said Lipman.
It was March 1972 when President Nixon signed into law a measure amending the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include a national nutrition program for seniors 60 and older. The March for Meals observance started in 2002.
That, incidentally, was a year after The Senior Connection was founded to help Blaine County seniors “age in place.”
Study after study shows that enabling seniors to stay in their own homes and community helps them live longer, healthier and happier.
The Senior Connection serves more than 750 seniors a year, providing 25,000 meals, 5,000 rides, 8,500 hours of home care services, 4,000 hours of adult memory/day care and more than 300 classes and activities. The cost to provide these programs is more than $75,000 a month.
With 12,000 Americans turning 60 each day now is the time to invest in such programs to provide every senior in need with nutritious meals, friendly visits and safety checks that will enable them to live healthier and independent in their own homes, said Ellie Hollander, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels America.
For more information, visit www.seniorconnectionidaho.org.
SENIOR GAMES COMING
The Senior Connection will hold its second annual Senior Connection Games June 22. The games, which last year ranged from cornhole to golf, are for those ages 50 and older. For information, call 208-788-3468 or visit www.seniorconnectionidaho.org.