Seniors Want Hot Lunches

Fran Benson, executive director of the Union County Division on Aging, listens to Hyacinth Branker, 83, while visiting the Semior Center Tuesday.

In response to a petition campaign for hot meals at the Senior Center, Union County Division on Aging Executive Director Fran Benson paid a visit Tuesday to discuss the whys and wherefores of the federal nutrition program now in effect at two sites in Plainfield.

The request dates back to May 2007, when center member Rasheed Abdul-Haqq garnered 32 signatures of regular attendees who would like to have hot meals on site. In a letter to Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Abdul-Haqq asked for either a hot meal program or transportation to nearby Richmond Towers, where the program is in operation. At the time, seniors expected a new center to be complete in December 2007.

Benson explained federal health regulations that govern the preparation, transportation and distribution of the meals, which come from a central kitchen in Linden. The food must be kept at certain temperatures in special trucks and nutrition sites must have double sinks, which the existing leased center lacks. There is no fee to recipients, but donations to the program are accepted.

Budget constraints and other factors do not permit Benson to make any promises, she said, but meanwhile she urged seniors to make reservations and take part in the "Senior Cafe" program.

"Give it a shot," she said. "Rasheed, you're in charge."

As explained in brochures she handed out, the program is open to all adults age 60 and older, and their spouses, at more than 20 Senior Cafes in Union County. Plainfield sites are Richmond Towers and Plainfield Tower West. The suggested donation for meals planned by a nutritionist is $1.75 and the program operates Monday through Friday. Reservations must be made two days in advance.

The program is funded through the federal Older Americans Act.

"Try it out - give me feedback," Benson said.

Abdul-Haqq said he would see that members gave the program a try.

Benson visited in conjunction with the mayor's monthly visit. Among many comments, the mayor said she will be meeting this week with representatives of the development firm that is still working on the new senior center. She also noted the hiring of three police officers, two of whom are children of city employees.

Robinson-Briggs said she is still discussing operation of Dudley House with the Plainfield-based Organization for Recovery. The residential treatment center currently has no clients, but is now handicapped accessible to meet state licensing requirements. City Council members have asked for Dudley House to be operated by an outside agency instead of city staff.

The mayor touched on numerous other issues, urging support of a pension deferral plan that she said will cut the city budget by $2.5 million, and hailing possible development of a banquet hall in the PNC Bank building. She told seniors the city has a verbal agreement but none in writing with Solaris Health Systems, parent of the now-closed Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, for certain concessions. City officials have asked for an extra ambulance and expanded transportation to other hospitals since the closing.

The mayor visits the center on the first Tuesday of each month.

--Bernice Paglia