Middletown senior center meals program jumped 553% during COVID-19

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, a Middletown senior citizens center saw a 553% percent increase in the number of meals it delivered to area residents.

Keith Crothers, hired three months ago as executive director of Central Connections, made a presentation Tuesday night to Middletown City Council.

He said the center saw an increased need for its services during COVID-19 and on May 1 paid off its mortgage that was funded by a five-year capital tax levy. He thanked Middletown voters for their support.

Crothers said the center’s congregate meals program grew from 547 clients and 14,953 meals picked up and delivered between March 1 to Sept. 30, 2019 to 690 clients and 82,783 meals in the same period the next year, a jump of 26% in clients and 553% in meals.

During that time, he said, an average of 209 cars drove through the parking lot of the center on Central Avenue and picked up five meal packages and milk every week. He said some seniors also picked up meals for their spouse and neighbors. He said center staff placed the meals directly in the vehicles to reduce contact with the public.

Other meals were delivered to three senior housing facilities in Middletown and one in Hamilton, he told council members.

The cost of the meals was paid primarily through CARES federal funding and Title III Older Americans Act funding paid to the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, he said.

Monica Nenni, a councilwoman and restaurant co-owner, said she was impressed the center was able to increase its services despite the rise in food costs.

Last year during COVD, the center also delivered an average of 12,372 meals per month to clients at home and made 6,416 medical and non-medical trips, an average of 535 per month.

Crothers, who has led leadership positions at St. Joseph Orphanage and Clovernook Center for the Blind, said some seniors were afraid to go into public due to their health concerns. Without resources like Central Connections, Crothers said seniors would have found themselves in “really bad situations” related to food and transportation needs.

As a way to increase the number of delivered meals this year the center is adding three or four routes and one to two new routes for transportation, he said.

The center, closed throughout the pandemic, will host a grand re-opening from noon to 3 p.m. June 25 and hopes to re-open in Phase I on June 28 by appointment only, according to Crothers.

“We want to build relationships with other businesses and be more involved in the community,” he said after the meeting. “We are here for the community.”