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Seniors 60 and over can sign up to receive a daily free meal through the program
FAISON – Despite outreach efforts, the attendance numbers at the Faison congregate nutrition site are low, a problem that could result in losing meal benefits for seniors 60 and older at the Faison site.
Sandra Krantz of Faison, expressed her concern at the Faison Town Hall meeting on Jan. 3, asking for ideas on how they could boost attendance and attract Faison’s increasing Hispanic population.
Beth Taylor, Kenansville Congregate Nutrition Site Manager shared that she has found that there is hesitation from the Hispanic population across the county, in that they don’t like to share personal information. Such information is required to sign participants in the program. “They are afraid that it might be used in other areas about legal and illegal issues,” said Taylor.
The Faison congregate nutrition center gets anywhere from three to nine people at any given time, but they would like to have 10 to 12 every day according to Krantz.
“The site that I manage, we have anywhere from 13 to 25 depending on the activities we’re doing and depending on what’s going on in town,” said Taylor. “If there are certain events going on in town, those people are going to attend those events. I have to talk a lot in prior days to get people there. The seniors have been very responsive in that after an event is over in town, they will come in and eat. So that has been positive.”
Taylor explained that the meals they give are monitored every week.
“If I have low numbers, my meal numbers are going to change,” Taylor said. “I give up my meal quite often, just so we make sure our seniors are served. These are things that happen because we must account for every meal served. It is a wonderful program, but there’s accountability that we have to make sure is in place.”
Taylor, who used to be a town of Faison employee, told the Duplin Journal that while conducting a census in Faison, she found out that the migrant population is not keen on sharing personal information. Adding that between March and November the number of migrants that come to the area can be around 1,000.
“When we were doing the census, we hit every house in Faison and we were distributing information so they would not be afraid, so they’d understand what the census was and that sort of thing,” Taylor explained.
Melisa Brown, Senior Services director explained that the Faison location has struggled with attendance issues for some time, decreasing more since the pandemic.
“Even with the outreach efforts implemented, very little growth has taken place. When a congregate nutrition site attendance continues to decline, we begin to review ways that we can continue to serve seniors as well as be mindful and responsible with the budgeted funds received,” said Brown.
“The challenge we face the most is not having a bilingual employee on staff to be able to communicate more effectively.”
There are five congregate nutrition sites serving seniors of all diversities in Duplin County with locations in Beulaville, Faison, Kenansville, Wallace, and Warsaw. Each site is open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. where they provide registered seniors one hot meal a day, and the opportunity for socialization.
“We welcome our Hispanic seniors to visit any of the site locations,” said Brown, explaining that any senior who wishes to participate will need an address to complete the registration form, which collects data to verify the person they are serving.
The information required includes name, address, telephone, birth date, last four of their social security number, and an emergency contact person.
Meals must be eaten at the site location unless the senior qualifies for home delivered meals.
Brown explained that they adjust the number of meals each week.
“Initially, if the person registers that day, we could possibly serve the same day. It actually depends on the number of meals that were ordered the previous week,” said Brown. “Specific to Faison, additional meals would need to be ordered and would be available the following week.”
Someone under 60 is considered special eligibility or a guest.
“If the husband is 60 and the wife is 58, she is eligible because of her spouse. Both would register, but she is only eligible with the spouse,” said Brown.
“Occasionally, we have a guest accompany a senior. They may not qualify under special eligibility, so if there is a meal available, they can pay the full price of the meal after seniors are served.”
Brown encourages seniors to register for the program and take advantage of the opportunity to socialize with other seniors as well as enjoy many of the activities and classes planned at each nutrition site.
