Silver Valley Seniors receives WaFd Bank grant
Silver Valley Seniors was the recent recipient of a grant through the WaFd Bank Foundation. The $2,000 annual grant will be going toward the purchasing of ingredients to make the meals that Silver Valley Seniors delivers throughout the week. Pictured from the left at SVS board members Bud Koski, Ashley Churchill, Michelle Walcker, and Jo Cochran with WaFd Bank, and SVS program manager Darrell Lemieux.
Courtesy photo
OSBURN –– A recent grant from the local branch of the Washington Federal Bank is going a long way toward keeping the kitchen open at Silver Valley Seniors.
Michelle Walcker, the vice president and branch manager of the Silver Valley branch of WaFd Bank, is a regular volunteer with SVS, helping serve meals at their Kellogg location. Through her familiarity with the organization, Walcker informed SVS program manager Darrell Lamieux of a potential opportunity.
Through the Washington Federal Foundation, the bank was able to provide $2,000 to SVS, which will go toward purchasing food for meals while freeing up other funds for maintenance and operational costs.
“I approached Darrell when I saw that they again needed money,” Walcker said. “I told him that we had a foundational grant that they could receive funds from if they apply annually.”
According to its website, the Washington Federal Foundation's purpose is to facilitate direct giving to community-based nonprofits that primarily serve the needs of people with low-and-moderate incomes.
Walcker also provides financial information to the seniors when she volunteers with them, including topics like recognizing scams and potential fraud, as well as other valuable information.
Over the years, as different sources of funding have dried up along with the rising costs of food, the senior meals program has struggled to make ends meet in order to keep food on the table for the nearly 100 Silver Valley senior residents that utilize the service.
Along with just the food, Silver Valley Seniors has to pay for fuel, insurance, and vehicle maintenance – all of which adds up.
The program is a not-for-profit organization, that requires donations as well as State and Federal funding in order to operate – always at a loss.
Lemieux has gotten creative in the ways that he tried to save money – including cutting back on delivery days, strategic shopping for ingredients, and then seeking out grant funding.
The $2,000 received was spent on the raw food ingredients that Medicaid and Medicare mandate that organizations like theirs use for food preparation.
Each meal costs about $6 on average to prepare and then the Area Agency on Aging reimburses up to $4.50 per meal – leaving a $1.50 balance that Silver Valley Seniors has to eat.
In December of last year, the service provided seven meals a week to 77 residents in Shoshone County – at that number, for just one week, the amount of that leftover balance lands somewhere in the ballpark of $800 or more.
“Some of our seniors have been cut back from receiving hot meals seven days of the week,” Lemieux previously told the News-Press. “It’s just a matter of funding from Area Agency on Aging. What that means is that some of our seniors won’t be getting a hot meal, and sometimes that hot meal is the only hot meal they get for the day.”
If you would like to become a sponsor for the Meals on Wheels program, donations can be made to them at the Silver Valley Senior Center at 726 E. Mullan Ave. in Osburn or by mail at P.O. Box 887, Osburn, ID 83849. For more information, please call them at (208) 752-1194,
Washington Federal Bank is located in Osburn at 733 E. Mullan Ave. in Osburn.