Hey, seniors – need lunch?

Hopefully, your Senior Center can help. There are two ways your centers provide lunch: first, all three, Saluda, Green Creek and Columbus, provide home delivery; second, Meeting Place #1 in Columbus and Meeting Place #2 in Green Creek provide a hot lunch in their dining rooms.

This column focuses on the dining room service. Lula McDowell is the nutritional coordinator headquartered in Columbus. She and her staff prepare all the meals the seniors receive from a monthly menu approved by a registered dietitian, both the eat-in and the home delivery, for the three centers.

Each meal must include at least one-third of the daily nutritional requirements as set forth by the U.S. government. They average preparing 150 meals a day.

Each week day, promptly at 11:30 a.m., seniors (60 and over) begin lunch in Columbus and Green Creek. One meal this month was chicken lasagna, green peas, rolls and orange juice. Another was oven fried chicken, spinach with chopped eggs, potato salad, roll and prunes. And one more was baked pork chops, collard greens, baked sweet potato, biscuit and fruit cocktail.

Not only does the week day noon meal give you at least one good nutritional meal, it affords you the chance to mingle with other folks just like you and have conversations about matters that are important to all of us.

The social aspect of dining with us is extremely important because it gets you out into a different environment with other folks. We are social beings and socializing keeps us mentally alert and, including our meals, healthy. There are very nice people that meet with us that you would enjoy being with.

If you cant get to the Meeting Place under your own power, call Polk Transportation at 828-894-8203 and they will arrange to pick you up and take you back.

If you would like to join us, the monthly menu is available the first of the month at the centers. To be included you need to call in prior to 10:30 a.m. the morning of the day you wish to have lunch with us. The lunches are paid for by donation but will not be denied to anyone who cannot pay. If you are under 60, the cost will be $4.14. Both Meeting Places have upwards of 20 to 35 people per meal.

So why dont you join us? Try us, youll like it! Meet you at the Meeting Place!