I borrowed the photo above, showing an elderly couple celebrating the creation of a salad in their kitchen, from the Archuleta Seniors Inc. website. (Affectionately known as ASI).
Although the Silver Foxes Den, aka the Senior Center, does indeed have a kitchen and a roomy dining/activity room, I can’t say how often the patrons find themselves dancing over a green salad. More likely, they will be found exchanging news and stories around a shared meal… or playing Mahjong or Bridge, or doing Zentangle drawings…
Meals are prepared by ASI kitchen staff Monday through Friday. (The Community Cafe will reportedly be closed this Friday for Veterans Day; apparently, ‘Drive Thru Pick Up’ meals will still be available.)
Looking over this week’s menu, I perceive an obvious inclination towards European-American cuisine… the type of meals my own mother typically cooked when I was a child. Cod with dill sauce (Scandinavian?) … Wild Rice (Minnesota?) … Spinach & Mushroom Quiche (French?) … Chicken Piccata (Italian?) … Coleslaw (Dutch?)… Blueberry Cobbler (Colonial American?)…
Mom’s menu choices became noticeably more international after the kids left home, as she (and my father) began experimenting with other food traditions… especially, Asian cuisine.
According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans typically spend only about one hour per day sitting down and eating at a table, and about another hour eating or drinking — some might call it ‘snacking’? — while doing some kind of task or activity.
USDA found that people who ate while watching TV had a higher-than-average body weight. People who ate while doing ‘non-TV’ activities, meanwhile, had a lower-than-average body weight. Who knew?
From a September 2021 post on the USDA website:
We all have the same 24 hours in a day and must decide how to spend those hours. Time-use decisions in the short run can have long-run consequences. For example, skipping meals or constantly grabbing unhealthy snacks can affect our health and productivity. Americans’ eating patterns are of particular interest to nutrition professionals. Are we a Nation of grazers who snack throughout the day? Are we mindlessly eating while doing other things? How often do we sit down for a family meal — not counting Thanksgiving dinner?
Another study by USDA calculated that Americans spend an average of about an hour a day doing grocery shopping (including travel to and from) and a little less than one hour per day preparing food (handled mainly by the female sex.)
I’m discussing food and eating habits at the moment, because the provision of shared community meals and drive-thru pickup meals is a major part of ASI’s non-profit mission.
As noted in Part One, the Senior Center, located in the Ross Aragon Community Center on Hot Springs Boulevard, has been operating for about 20 years. For the first 10 years, the services were perceived by local government leaders as worthy of sizable taxpayer subsidies. The Town of Pagosa Springs — through the non-profit Pagosa Springs Community Center — was charging just $10 a year for rent, and Archuleta County was paying the salaries for an average of about 6 staff annually.
All of that changed, for whatever reasons, around 2014, when the County stopped funding the Senior Center staff, and the Town of Pagosa Springs increased the rent at the Community Center. During this tricky transition, local activists formed a new non-profit named Archuleta Seniors Inc. to continue operating the center.
The operating budget also began to change.
The ASI budget in 2014 was about $300,000; last year’s budget was $655,000. Although the County is no longer funding the Senior Center staff, it does still provide funding for some ASI programs, to the tune of about $150,000 in annual contributions. About a third of ASI’s revenue typically comes from foundation funding, and another third from the San Juan Basin Area Agency on Aging (SJBAAA).
I have no information, as I’m writing this editorial, about the reasons behind the growth in revenues and expenditures since 2014. But as we heard at last Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, ASI is projecting a budget deficit of about $125,000 this fiscal year (July through June?) and made an appeal to Town Council… for an $11,000 subsidy for new and replacement kitchen equipment… and for a 25% reduction on rent at the Community Center… and for permission for ASI to use the kitchen in the evening hours for possible catering jobs.
The Town Council promptly stepped up to the plate, so to speak.
Town Manager Andrea Phillips assured the Council that the Town has some leftover funds in its 2022 budget, and could afford to help subsidize the kitchen remodel.
Here is Council member Jeff Posey making the motion to support the Senior Center:
“Madam Mayor, I move to give Archuleta Seniors Inc. a six-month reprieve on rent payments, that shall not be repaid — a full reprieve — and to spend up to $15,000 on upgraded kitchen equipment to include range, oven and griddle…”
Council member Brooks Lindner asked member Posey if he wanted to amend the motion to include the possibility of extended kitchen hours. Mr. Posey did make an amendment, asking the Town staff to revisit the Community Center lease, with an eye to extending the hours of use.
The motion carried unanimously.
The Archuleta Board of County Commissioners has been asked to contribute an additional $75,000 to help close the budget deficit hole. I have no information, at the moment, about that decision.
While the Senior Center patrons might not be dancing over green salads, they may be tempted to celebrate the enhanced government assistance.