Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 14, 2023 -- ELEVEN
Senior meals coming back to
senior center in July
Three of the South Morrow County Seniors Matter board
members who have helped bring in-person senior meals back
to St. Patrick’s Senior Center. L-R: Jerry Conklin, Jackie
Alleman and Molly Rhea. Not pictured are board members
Sheryll Bates and Dennis Wiser. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
Area seniors will again
have a time to gather over
a meal at St. Patrick’s Se-
nior Apartments, thanks
to a new organization in
South Morrow County.
South Morrow County Se-
niors Matter will be starting
in-person meals Tuesday,
July 11.
Founding board mem-
ber Jackie Alleman calls
the movement “more than
a meal.”
“Which is really true,”
adds another founding
member, pastor Jerry Conk-
lin. “Our goal goes beyond
just feeding seniors. We
want to make it warm and
inviting. We want to see
seniors helped beyond just
a meal.”
“We hope that senior
meals will become a contact
for the over 200 seniors in
this area,” says Alleman.
Starting up the senior
meals has been a work in
progress since last No-
vember. Both Alleman and
Conklin work for Morrow
County Health District’s
hospice program, Alleman
as volunteer coordinator
and Conklin as chaplain.
In the course of their
visits, they often either
picked up meals for fami-
lies or went with families
to senior meal sites. They
couldn’t help but notice
that Boardman, Irrigon, Ar-
lington and Condon all had
weekly meals for seniors.
They started asking ques-
tions and trying to figure
out how to get senior meals
back in Heppner.
Heppner senior meals
used to be provided at St.
Patrick’s Senior Center
through CAPECO (Com-
munity Action Program
of East Central Oregon).
Those in-person meals
were discontinued for a
time during the COVID-19
pandemic and now take
the form of take-and-go
meals served through Buck-
num’s Tavern in Heppner
on Wednesdays.
“We’re glad for that,”
says Conklin, “There’s a
lot of people who love the
Bucknum’s meals.”
At the same time, both
Conklin and Alleman say
their goal encompasses
much more.
“Where we’re com-
ing from, we’re more con-
cerned with caring for the
whole person and their
needs than just feeding
them once a week,” Conk-
lin says.
While providing a
well-rounded, nutritious
meal once a week is im-
portant, Conklin and Al-
leman say they also want
to connect seniors to other
seniors.
“There are a lot of se-
niors who don’t get out
much,” says Conklin. The
in-person senior meals
would be a chance for se-
niors to get out and social-
ize with each other.
They also want to con-
nect seniors to community
resources they may not
be aware of or know how
to access. Conklin says a
goal is to have a portion
of the meal time in which
different entities come and
either provide entertain-
ment or give talk about
health, safety, legal matters
or caregiving.
“There’s a lot of things
available to help seniors,”
says Conklin, adding that
many of those resources
are online but that a lot of
seniors are not computer
literate.
“They’re kind of left
out there in the desert,”
he adds. “We want to be a
resource that way.”
The group also wants to
connect seniors to helping
hands, whether that means
outside volunteers or con-
necting seniors with needs
with those who have those
gifts—needs and giftings
such as rides, cleaning and
paperwork, to name a few.
“There’s a lot of se-
niors who have gifts and
abilities to do things, and
there are other seniors who
need help,” Conklin says.
“We want to match those
needs—a resource where
seniors can find out about
help that they can get and
help that they can give.”
It was a big plan for two
people.
“We’re just a couple
of people who think some-
thing should be done about
this,” Conklin says.
They formed a task
force, which became the
South Morrow County Se-
niors Matter board. Other
board members are Molly
Rhea, Sheryll Bates and
Dennis Wiser.
“Finally, we just bit the
bullet and said we’d form a
nonprofit,” says Conklin.
They began to pursue
funding. Kim Cutsforth
helped them secure $15,000
per year for the next two
years from Willow Creek
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City removes condemned
house
Valley Economic Develop-
ment Group (WCVEDG).
Nicole Mahoney suggested
they approach the county
and ask for leftover COVID
relief funds. The Morrow
County Board of Commis-
sioners agreed to that in
April and supplied a grant
of $33,984 per year for the
next two years.
“At that point, we had
promised funding but still
had a lot of work to do,”
says Conklin. “There’s
been a lot of hoops to jump
through, for sure.”
One of the biggest hur-
dles was finding a cook, Miller and Sons worked to tear down a house that had been an eyesore on Chase Street for
which they found in the many years. - Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
person of Jodi Segraves.
They’re still in the process
of hiring an assistant cook.
Another problem was
the day. They didn’t want to
hold the meals on Wednes-
days, since that is the day
Bucknum’s distributes its
CAPECO senior meals.
They have settled on Tues-
days—that’s bingo day at
the senior center, but bingo
will move to 2 p.m. once the
senior meals begin.
They say they’ve had
a lot of positive response
from the community, both
individuals and organi-
zations, but Conklin and
Alleman say they are still
looking for volunteers to
help. They are also open to
more funding as they look The now bare lot is ready for developement - Photo by Cindi Doherty
to the future.
“We’re funded for two Do You Have Something to Share?
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years, but only two years,”
Our newly updated website makes it easy to:
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Conklin says.
HERE!
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row County Seniors Matter
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0758.
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