The structure is now in place for the Project Bread senior meal program in Salem, Odin, Sandoval, Iuka and Kell following a second meeting of a grassroots organization on Thursday.
The city of Salem has agreed to take the lead. City Manager Annette Sola explains their role.
“Phone calls are all coming to us,” Sola said. “We’re trying to work out a system to better organize that list so that it’s easy to track. I think that makes it easy for us to take the lead on this. We can sort people out as to where they need to go as this goes forward.”
The number for former Project Bread recipients to call is (618) 548-2222. Once you are on the list you only have to call before four pm the prior day if you don’t want a meal. The $4 a meal cost to the recipients will remain the same as under Project Bread. Sola says after the program was first announced, nearly half of the Project Bread recipients they were trying to reach signed up.
The group will pay Produce Plus to provide the catered meal on Monday and Tuesday, Village Garden on Wednesday, and Farm Fresh Market on Thursday and Friday. The individual meals will then be put together and delivered by a different church each day Monday through Friday. Churches and other donations will be used to provide any desert.
The estimated cost of providing the program is expected to be about $13,000 a month. Donations will be sought to cover the cost of the program through the Salem Ministerial Alliance. Donations can be made through the alliance’s Venmo account, smaIllinois, or by mailing them to the Salem Ministerial Alliance at Box 1312, Salem, IL 62881. Please indicate the donation is for the ‘senior food program’.
This was the second meeting for the group. The first session was held after Salem Township Hospital officials reached out to the city and churches because of the negative impact they saw from seniors not having the program. Tania Allison explains:
“What we know is if people don’t have their basic needs met, if they cannot have the food, shelter, and basic things that they need, they can’t function. They won’t do well in life, they won’t do well with their healthcare, and we knew we had to meet that need.”
Before it shut down, Project Bread was providing meals to about 161 persons.
While the social service agency BCMW is hoping a similar grassroots effort can take place to handle the Centralia Project Bread site, so far that has not happened.
Two Kinmundy churches will handle the Kinmundy and Alma area separately.
