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Senior meal sites risk closure By Jonel Aleccia Four of 14 sites where Southern Oregon seniors can go for low-cost meals likely will close unless organizers can come up with $50,000 by Aug. 16. Programs that serve some 400 seniors a year in Eagle Point, Gold Hill, Merlin and Williams remain imperiled, despite a successful rally to maintain programs at other Jackson and Josephine county sites. "Those are the ones we�re struggling to find funds for," said Tisa Hill, nutrition program coordinator for the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. "Other communities have been wonderful. We�ve raised $80,000 so far and there�s another $20,000 we think we�ll get with no problem." The COG issued a public plea this spring, calling on communities to come up with free sites, free staff or money to pay for the senior nutrition program, which provides some 220,000 meals annually to local residents over age 60. But the agency remains about $50,000 short of the $150,000 needed to maintain the program at all sites. Shortfalls for the jeopardized sites range from $4,000 to more than $10,000 each. The COG, which has administered the program since 1974, was forced to resume on-site management after ACCESS Inc. of Medford declined to continue contracted meal services. ACCESS officials said the agency could no longer subsidize a $70,000 gap between program costs and revenue. The COG is advertising now for new managers for several sites. Federal funding for the meals program, administered through the Older Americans Act, has been frozen for eight years, even as the country�s senior population has been growing. Locally, the number of octogenarians has tripled, adding to demand for subsidized meals. More than 140,000 meals are delivered each year to ailing seniors at home; more than 78,000 are served at central sites. Even if the targeted sites are closed, Hill emphasized that the cuts will not affect home-delivered meals. But cutting the sites will alter the daily lives of the seniors who use them, said Mary Jansen, president of the Eagle Point Senior Center. There, some 20 people gather five days a week for lunch and company. "It�s more for visiting than anything," says Jansen. "It�s a nice center for people to meet or chat or kibitz, you know. We don�t want to lose it." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA