OKLAHOMA CITY – A recent grant from a utility company foundation will enable the Senior Citizens Center in Hobart to continue providing hot meals to elderly residents of the Kiowa County community.
“We average about 90 people a day,” said Charles Bickford, president of the center’s board of directors. “Some days we’ve had as high as 115 and some days just 75, but we typically serve lunch to 80 to 100 people a day, Monday through Friday.”
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, “We cannot allow anybody to eat inside the center” because there is not enough floor space to observe adequate ‘social distancing’ while feeding that many patrons.
Consequently, Bickford said, “We’ve been strictly delivery” for the past three months.
“A couple of families” provide volunteer delivery service for the center, he said.
So does the Searchlight Center, which provides residential and vocational services to approximately 75 special needs individuals in Hobart and Lawton. “They provide the biggest part of our delivery service, and at no charge to us,” Bickford said. “It gives them a sense of responsibility.”
The center has three paid employees, including a cook. Bickford helps with packaging the meals in Styrofoam containers and slipping them inside plastic bags for extra protection.
The American Electric Power (AEP) Foundation awarded Hobart’s Senior Citizens Center a $2,000 emergency grant three weeks ago. AEP is the parent company of Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, which provides electricity to more than three dozen communities in southwest Oklahoma, including Hobart, Gotebo, Lone Wolf, Mountain Park, Mountain View, Roosevelt, Snyder, Lawton, Altus and Duncan.
“We’re thankful for all the money we can get,” Bickford said. “Our meals cost us about $7.25 a piece, but we charge our folks $5.” Consequently, “Last year we lost a little over $4,500,” he said.
The South Western Oklahoma Development Authority typically provides the Hobart center with a grant of approximately $8,000 to $9,000, Bickford said, and for the last 10 years the Kiowa County Commissioners have allocated “a little over $12,000 a year” to the center.
Every penny is needed because “the cost of food has skyrocketed,” Bickford said. “Our grocery bill typically runs about $2,000 a month.” The center buys groceries locally and from a wholesaler in Edmond.