OREM, Utah — With the costs of nearly everything going up recently, one center in Orem is trying to help a vulnerable population to make sure no one goes hungry.
Inside the Orem Senior Friendship Center is a group of people who call this place their home.
“It’s my salvation, because my husband passed away, so I’m alone. So this is my family now,” said Helen Jackman. She was born and raised in Orem and loves coming to the senior center.
They all play bingo together, take classes together, laugh with each other, and have special food programs to help seniors — Jackman comes here every day for lunch.
“That’s my good meal of the day, that’s what I rely on,” said Jackman. “And then we have the subsidized stuff that people donate to us and I can use that for dinner a lot of times, some salads and things like that. Saves me a lot of money.”
Anyone can walk in for a fresh, home-cooked meal at the center. It costs $5 and you have to place an order the day before. But, the advantage for seniors is if you pay for four meals upfront, they only cost $4 each. People can get a fresh meal made from scratch, Monday through Friday. There are also ways to get reduced or free meals for seniors — all to help them fight food insecurity.
“A lot of people can’t get food every day, and it’s nice because they can come and have a warm meal,” said Kathy Thurgood. She has been coming to the senior center for almost a year. Her husband helps cook meals about once or twice a month.
The center, on average, serves about 80-120 meals per day.
Through the Food Shares table program, the center collects donations from grocery stores in the area to give out.
“Any member here can come and get a full bag of groceries. You literally would not have to shop,” explained Gena Bertelsen, the program coordinator at Orem Senior Friendship Center. “Everything from salads, vegetables, bread, on Fridays we have eggs and meat. Sometimes people only come in just to get the food shares, and we’re okay with that.”
Membership costs $17 per year, and that is waived for Golden Members, who are those about 80 years old.
In the parking lot of the senior center is a “Share the Harvest” cart. People with extra produce from their gardens can bring fruits and vegetables for others in need. It’s another resource for seniors living on a fixed income who can use programs at the senior center, but also pick up food from the cart.
“Especially with inflation going up, and their check isn’t going up, their fixed income isn’t going up, and that is troublesome to me. What else can we do for these seniors?” said Bertelsen.
Bertelsen runs programming at the senior center and said more people are increasingly worried about where their next meal will come from. She says they are doing all they can to help.
“I saw some people coming in today and they were looking really nervous and they were shopping, but they looked almost guilty. And I go: 'You don’t need to be guilty — this is to help all of us,'” said Thurgood.
“It’s very important because if they have to worry about where the next meal is coming from, that’s very sad,” said Lar Scott, who also frequents the senior center and has been coming there for about 3 months.
