With help from United Way, Hendricks County Senior Services gives residents healthy meals – and a sense of community

DANVILLE – At noon, men and women streamed into the dining hall at the Hendricks County Senior Center.

They took their seats at round tables, chatting with friends over a warm meal. On the menu this fall day: cider-braised pork, zucchini and squash, cottage cheese and pears.

Seniors said the center gives them a sense of community and fellowship – and a healthy lunch they may not get otherwise.

Elizabeth Wulkan, who’s been going there since the summer, said the senior center fills a void while her daughter is at work during the day.

“They really want everybody to come share themselves,” she said.

Hendricks County Senior Services, which operates the center, is a longtime accredited organization with United Way of Central Indiana. The agency assists those 60 and older, their family caregivers and people with dementia of any age. The goal: helping seniors live independently in their homes for as long as possible.

This year, United Way of Central Indiana awarded a $160,000 Basic Needs Fund grant to Hendricks County Senior Services. Those funds help support core programs, including transportation, fitness classes and the meal program, said Marina Keers, executive director of the senior services agency.

“Those really are the basic needs of our seniors and in our community – and they’re all provided here, in partnership with United Way,” she said.

The agency is using part of its Basic Needs Fund grant to expand its partnership with Meals on Wheels of Hendricks County, Keers said.

In October, Meals on Wheels began packaging meals in the senior center’s kitchen, which allows them to deliver food to more seniors in their homes, she said.

“We are so thrilled to be a partner with Hendricks County Senior Services,” said Chris Flegal, United Way’s community relations director for Hendricks, Morgan and Putnam counties. “The work they do is transformative – to not just the residents that they serve, but the county as a whole.”

The agency provides a continuum of services along the aging spectrum, Keers said. It offers a non-medical, in-home care program and also runs a food pantry for seniors. It partners with Sycamore Services to provide public transportation for the county, and many seniors use the service to get to the center.

One of those is Rande Carrico, who eats lunch there every day it’s offered. He lives by himself, and it’s difficult to cook a healthy meal for just one person, he said.

If Carrico didn’t have the lunches: “I’d just be sitting at home alone.”

Pat Williams, a regular for more than seven years, said seniors and staff rally around, and support, each other.

It’s where she belongs, she said: “You get so close to people. I need that, and they need it, too.”

It’s where she’s met so many friends – including her husband.

David Williams once worked as a driver, and she was one of his passengers to the senior center.

He asked her out, and in 2017, they married.

When it came time to plan a wedding, they knew where they wanted it to be: surrounded by friends at the Hendricks County Senior Center.

“We’re just so blessed,” Williams said. “We say that every day.”