By John Raffel
Correspondent
ALLEGAN — Following the Allegan County Board of Commissioner’s vote last month to award the county millage taxpayer funded senior meals program to a Kent County organization when the current contract expires March 31, the Gun Plain and Otsego Townships Boards of Trustees passed a resolution urging the Commissioners to continue the proven 20-year relationship with Community Action of Allegan County(CAAC).
Former commission chair James Storey said the Commissioners chose to use the Allegan voters’ millage money to contract frozen TV dinner-type meal delivery one to three times a week with Meals on Wheels of Western Michigan in Kent County.
The townships’ resolution cites the benefits of the CAAC’s hot meals service: “Such a program provides daily wellness checks and offers peace of mind for seniors and their families and social contact through daily delivery, reducing isolation, and promoting community connection.”
The townships called out the Commissioners for the “the hasty action to dissolve its relationship with CAAC provided no announced plan to fill the gap in hot and cold meal choice and daily wellness services to homebound seniors,” Storey said.
The change resulted from responses to a request for proposal (RFP) issued by the county that had been partial drafted by a member of the Meals on Wheels (MOW) Board of Directors who concurrently serves on the county’s Commission on Aging (COA).
Despite county statements that the COA had vetted the RFP, it was never presented to the full COA for review before it was issued. MOW and Allegan Community Action responded to the RFP. When the recommendation by the COA discreet committee came to the COA for consideration, it did not include a scoring of the two agency’s responses. It appears the only consideration was cost: with the MOW’s 1-3 times weekly TV dinner proposal without wellness checks costing less than the current successful program of 5 times a week hot meals and access to ten supportive services through the CAAC .
“Since the Commissioners voted and in response to the absence of wellness checking five times a week in the MO W proposal, county staff indicated they have talked about a wellness program that will be a cost in addition to whatever it will pay MOW for its TV dinner program,” Storey said. “Seniors and their care givers now receiving the CAAC’s hot meals sent more than 50 comments of concern about the cut.
Anita from Pullman wrote “. ..daily meals from (CAAC) is my only real source of having one balanced meal daily. I am bedridden and can no longer shop or cook for myself. Nell wrote “I enjoy the hot meals. Without the hot meals every day sometimes I’m not sure what I would do.?
Neil’s son added “When I’m at work, it (hot meals 5x a week), helps her a lot because she has dementia and forgets how to use the oven and even sometimes the microwave.”
Linda wrote: “I have multiple sclerosis diagnosed 56 years ago. My life is very difficult. I would like to have meals fresh and not frozen.”
Fred and Candice wrote “My husband has dementia. We are homebound. We had an emergency where I needed an ambulance. Meal delivery came and Faith (meal driver} made sure my husband was cared for.”
