The Upshur County Senior Center serves 400 to 800 meals each month — most delivered through Meals on Wheels — while also offering daily lunches, in-home care and fitness classes to area residents.
Brett Belt, the new director of the Upshur County Senior Center, attended the Feb. 4 Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur meeting to discuss the center’s services.
“I just wanted to come here and introduce myself. I know the Senior Center and the Rotary Club have collaborated in the past, and I’d like to continue that relationship, and I want to put a face to the name,” Belt said. “We offer nutrition in the form of Meals on Wheels, and we do lunch every day at the Senior Center on a donation basis. We do in-home care work, so people who need help in their home, we send workers in to help them with that, and we also do activities at the center like Zumba, aerobics and all kinds of different fun stuff.”
He said Rotary and the center have partnered to host blood drives in the past, and he hopes that relationship can continue.
“I’d say we work with between 120 and 150 people, and that will fluctuate, because some people come in just for classes,” Belt said. “We average 400 to 800 meals a month, and a majority of that goes through our Meals on Wheels program.”
The center serves about 80 people through its Meals on Wheels program and hopes to expand.
“Currently, we’re trying to do a little bit more in the southern part of the county. We’re trying to go into Rock Cave,” Belt said. “Where we’re located, it makes it difficult to get meals all the way down there without them getting cold, so we’re looking at doing a satellite location there.”
They also prepare for weather disruptions by delivering four frozen meals, so people still have food for several days if Meals on Wheels can’t reach their home.
“We’re always looking for donations for Meals on Wheels. That’s the biggest pull on our budget. We are going to start doing something where you can sponsor a member for Meals on Wheels,” Belt said. “The way it works is the state pays a portion of it, and then we’re responsible to get donations or to cover the rest of that meal. Our meals are $11 — that’s the average cost to the center — and the state will pay up to $8.50 now.”
The center also needs donations when the holiday season rolls around to prepare for its care packages.
“I’m sure I’ll be back at one of these meetings next year to talk about donations for our Christmas care packages,” Belt said. “We usually need blankets for people, any kind of toiletries, toothbrush, toothpaste, and we send a care package out to every Meals on Wheels recipient.”
The center is also planning to purchase a new Meals on Wheels truck when it can raise the funds.
