Charles City Meals on Wheels program is shutting down

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Meals on Wheels program will stop operating next month, the chair of the program has announced.

“A combination of factors is leading us to the reality that we will not be able to continue the Meals on Wheels program here in Charles City,” said Chairman Dennis Niezwaag.

In a message sent to organizations that have been providing volunteer drivers for the program, Niezwaag said he had been informed by Apple Valley Assisted Living that it could no longer provide the meals for the program “because of several factors including costs.”

“There are no other providers on the horizon. At the same time, three members of the five members of our board are going through life changes that are leading them to leave the board,” Niezwaag said.

He said some positive notes are that the Senior Center continues to provide mid-day meals for a very reasonable cost and, in addition to this, “these days anyone can order a variety of prepared meals that are refrigerated or frozen and these are delivered right to your door.”

Niezwaag said that while the board is saddened by the end of the program, “we are comforted a little by having other meal options available. We will be providing our meal recipients with the names of a few of these providers.”

“I realize that these alternatives will not be the same, but sometimes hard choices need to be made,” he said.

Niezwaag said the board is looking at Tuesday, Dec. 20, as the final day for the program.

The program has been serving the community since 1968, shortly after a devastating tornado struck Charles City. St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Salsbury Baptist Home, along with other local churches, helped establish the program. Niezwaag is a former senior pastor at St. John.

In 1987 the Floyd County Medical Center took over the program, preparing meals in the hospital kitchen. In 2018 it announced that it could no longer afford to participate because the meals it was preparing for the Meals on Wheels program were reducing the Medicare reimbursement it was getting for the more expensive specific dietary meals it was preparing for patients in the hospital, resulting in a loss of almost $200,000 per year.

The hospital also stopped weekend deliveries at that point while a new provider was being sought, settling on the Monday through Friday schedule that has been in place since then.

Later that year, Apple Valley stepped up to take on the program, and has been running it up to now.

Niezwaag has said in the past that the program has been a real community effort because it relies on volunteer drivers to deliver the meals. Service clubs, churches, civic groups, 4-H members, businesses, Comp Systems and even high school students doing service hours for their silver cords are among those who have helped deliver meals.

“This program could not have happened or lasted without faithful, caring, and courteous volunteer drivers. Thank you so much,” he said in his message to the groups.

The program has done more than provide a daily nutritious meal. Making regular contact with the meal recipients has often been just as important, program supporters say, and there have been numerous times over the year where a medical or other issue was discovered because a meal recipient didn’t answer the door and an emergency contact was called.