Senior centers future in jeopardy?

Posted: 08.15.2011 at 3:42 AM

IRON MOUNTAIN -- The Iron Mountain Senior Center is a place Joseph Bakle calls home.

"I like coming here. I play cards here, I eat here, I do a lot of volunteering here," said Bakle.

But those daily routines could soon change for Bakle.

The Dickinson-Iron Community Services Agency is considering reducing senior meals due to a $12,000 shortfall in next year's state and federal funding. Senior centers in Dickinson, Iron and Baraga counties will be affected.

"Our reimbursement rates are dependent on program participation, and this year we served sixty-five hundred fewer meals through the end of June than we did this time last year," said DICSA Director Jeff Heino.

The agency aims to cut meals served in senior centers, while keeping the home delivery service intact.

More than 77,000 meals are served in the centers each year.

"We don't want home delivered folks to go without a meal so what we would do is provide sometimes two meals in one delivery, but again, they are the priority," Heino added.

So what is the worst part for Bakle? Uncertainty.

"I have no idea what's going to happen,” he said. “Some of us people can afford to do it, but I do know that there are people that cannot."

Bakle and many others at Iron Mountain Senior Center are concerned with what might happen if the proposed cuts take effect. However, no time table has been set for a decision.