FRANKLIN TWP TO TERMINATE COUNTY’S MEAL SITE FOR SENIORS CONTRACT- Editorial
By Cindy Merckx/Sentinel of GC Editor
This week I’m a little fired up after speaking with several senior citizens. The front page article about Franklin Township officials deciding to move the senior citizens who attend the daily lunch program to either Glassboro or Williamstown nutrition site centers, so they can use the kitchen and activity rooms for better purposes doesn’t sit well with me for several reasons.
First let me say that I reached 60 years old in February and was looking forward to one day having the time to ride the senior citizen bus, having lunch, or travel around to shop or participate in activities with people my own age who live in my community.
For those not familiar with the Gloucester County Nutrition Program, the County provides a well-balanced mid-day meal to seniors who are 60 years of age or older that is servedmost Monday through Fridays at six different Nutrition Sites that are located in Mantua, Glassboro, Thorofare, Paulsboro, Williamstown and Franklinville. A donation of $1.25 is accepted for each meal and there is no obligation to contribute if you are unable.
Second, just because attendance in a program is dwindling in my opinion is no reason to close it. Ask several pastors of various churches across our County who will tell you that they use to have many people coming to church services on Sunday and at activities that were held throughout the week. Unfortunately, their congregations are now only a handful of members; but they still continue to keep the church doors open.
Ask the members of organizations like the VFW, American Legion, Elks, Lions, Moose, Knights of Columbus, Masons and other lodges about how their memberships has dwindled over the years. But they still continue to keep their doors open and fundraise and hold activities as long as they can.
Several years ago I disagreed with the Bishop of Camden when he decided to close Catholic churches/nursing homes in the diocese. I told the Bishop how I felt that he was making a big mistake. I told him he was tearing apart a family. He decided to lock the doors of my church where I and others attended. Just like our township officials, the Bishop felt that his ideas would ‘improve services’ and assured the congregation that their donations would be spent more ‘effectively.’ Not everyone agreed with his ideas and some protested against it. Those in charge get to make the rules and changes as they see fit and sometimes not everyone agrees that it was in their best interest.
For many senior citizens, they feel alone at times. They will sometimes try to seek out places to socialize to break up their feelings of loneliness. Some may attend a church service or go to the library. They may attend a lunch program and make one or two friends and possibly engage in activities or events that they have a good time talking about with one another. Read any article on how to treat loneliness and you will find that success happens by increasing the person’s social interaction with others. Humans are social beings.
In my opinion, things changed several years ago when the Township officials had a major lay off. The lunch program was in place and there was a full time director named Shirley Martinez who worked at the community center each day. She was appreciated by many of the senior citizens as she would plan and participate in activities with them each week.
In my opinion, this problem is certainly fixable and I am hopeful that the township officials will do the right thing as I know they want the best for our senior citizens. Before making any permanent decisions like this, I feel there should have been a few meetings with our seniors especially during the daytime hours. Our senior citizens meet each month at the community center at 12:30PM so perhaps some of our officials will be able to attend and open this discussion to those who are over 60 and would be affected by this.
Sometimes, all you need to do is hire a good full time cruise director and you find that everyone wants to come aboard! The other part is that there needs to be monthly communication with the County program directors to be sure that the employees from the County who manage the program are on the same page when it comes to complaints or problems.
It is my understanding from my investigation that the County was not informed about this matter until last week. Also, the contract between the County and the Township was not updated and signed as it normally is done each year. When the number of participants falls the contract should have been renegotiated so that only one room would need to be reserved for the meal program instead of the entire center. This would free up space for other daytime activities or events.
Lastly, years ago there was discussion and not everyone was on board about the benefits of having the County meal program. I saw a comment from a former Mayor that ‘someone’ got a hare-brained idea to move the program from Newfield to Franklin Township. I was one of those ‘hare-brained’ people at that time and still feel it was a good idea!
The latest statistics is that Franklin Township has a total population of 16,568 and Newfield has a total of 1,567. Call me names like ‘hare-brained’ but as far as I’m concerned it makes more sense to have it in a township where the larger population exists. After-all, we are already paying taxes to the County for these programs so why should our residents have to travel to other towns when we already have everything in place right here?