Seniors in the Middle

There appears to be some crossfire between agencies who serve our area seasoned citizens…and there simply must be a way to continue the popular senior nutrition program now housed at the Fairfield Elks….formerly at the Kon-Tiki.

The numbers don’t lie. On average, over 500 people are served meals at the Elks…and 500 meals go out on a monthly basis. About half that number are served in Hamilton county.

According to one of the leaders at WADI, the money funneled to them to administer the program was woefully late on a regular basis. Of course, the common dominator in all money problems, it seems, is the state of Illinois. They are late on almost everything of a financial nature…and at last count 7-to-8 billion behind in paying their bills.

Stuck in the middle of this is the Southeastern Illinois Agency on Aging, which was quick to send us a response to our story this week. They said they were “surprised” by WADI’s decision to cut bait on December 21^st and are currently developing a plan to answer the soon-to-be crisis. In a statement from the Agency---which is based in Mt. Carmel and serves nine counties---said it “did not anticipate any interruption in services provided to seniors in our area.”

Not quite the definitive statement needed in this situation. There are other groups that send out meals in Fairfield----but they would be stretched beyond capacity if they were obligated to preparing and distribute a thousand meals a month.

Don’t you think this sounds like a spat that could have been avoided? One month notice seems rather abrupt. But if you believe WADI this has been a long time brewing and they simply couldn’t continue to operate without prompt and full payment to their food vendors.

As usual, it’s the patrons of the senior nutrition program that stand to lose. I pray they don’t have to miss a single meal.