Mike Washek, left, accepts a plate of food from Ellen Hedstrand during a meal served at the Sawyer Senior Citizens Center March 1. At center is Renee Arnold, nutrition program supervisor at the Sawyer site.

SAWYER – The smell of home cooking wafts from the kitchen of the Sawyer Senior Citizens Center as seniors congregate to visit while awaiting the opportunity to enjoy a hearty meal.

Sawyer is one of several communities in northcentral North Dakota that hosts a senior nutrition program coordinated by Minot Commission on Aging (MCA).

“It’s fantastic,” said Sandy Nesheim of Sawyer, who stopped by the center to pick up meals for her husband and herself. “They’re nutritious meals and they’re very good. It’s a great program.

“It does feed and benefit a lot of people,” she added. “Everything that the Commission on Aging does benefits so many people in different ways.”

In addition to the nutrition program, the Sawyer Senior Citizen Center hosts a monthly footcare clinic provided through MCA. Nesheim said she would be at a loss without the knowledge and skill of the nurses who come to her home to assist with her husband’s footcare.

MCA employs a full-time nurse, a part-time nurse and six contract nurses to bring footcare services to the region. MCA Executive Director Roger Reich estimated about 500 foot-care clients are seen every year.

“That’s a good service, too, because the nurses see these clients monthly or every other month so they can tell if anything has changed with them,” Reich said. “They build that bond, too, to make sure that person is taken care of.”

MCA was established in the 1970s to serve the Minot community and surrounding area. In the 1980s, North Dakota Aging Services, which was contracting with hundreds of communities for senior services, decided to establish eight regions with a single contracting agency for each. As the hub of Region II, MCA contracted with the state and then with other communities to bring those state-supported services to the seven-county region.

MCA subcontracts to Tri-County Senior Services in Rugby and Kenmare Meals on Wheels to provide service in areas east and north of Minot.

“We cover the rest of that. It works out really well. We have 28 different meal sites throughout the region,” Reich said. “If at all possible, we try to contract with a restaurant in that community to do the senior meals.”

Involving local cafes is a win for MCA because the cooks and site already are in place, and it is a win for the cafes and communities because of the business it generates, he said. In communities without diners, MCA will hire a cook and utilize the senior center for congregate meals.

“We’re able to keep small communities going, too, in the sense that seniors don’t have to move out of those small communities because there’s services available to them,” Reich said. “Meals on Wheels is our biggest service that we provide seniors.”

Meals on Wheels provides about 825 meals a day through congregate or home delivery in Region II. Of those, 300-350 meals are provided in Minot. The delivery is accomplished almost entirely with volunteers.

Reich estimated 250-300 volunteers take shifts to not only ensure meals are delivered but to provide those welfare checks that are important to elderly individuals who may not be able to get out and don’t have someone to regularly look in on them.

The congregate meals don’t just provide nutrition but offer a social outlet.

“It’s kind of nice just to get together,” said Renee Arnold, who supervises the Sawyer meal location.

Arnold has worked with Meals on Wheels since 1986.

“It’s been fun. I guess I’ve always liked helping people, and I hope that over the years I’ve done that,” Arnold said.

As past owner of a local restaurant, she prepared the food at her cafe for the seniors to carry down the street to their dining location in City Hall. When the current senior citizens center was built next door to the restaurant in 1991, seniors didn’t have so far to carry the food.

Cooking now takes place in the kitchen of the senior center. Arnold has turned over most of the cooking to Sharon Melland, with Ellen Hedstrand, at age 90, helping out in the kitchen. Arnold said MCA has been helpful in supporting the rural communities, including sharing its extra foodstocks when needed.

“We generally serve between 25 and 30 meals,” Arnold said. “Some take out and some eat here.” Those numbers include deliveries through Meals on Wheels.

Mike Washek of Sawyer is among participants who appreciate the nutrition program.

“It’s a very, very good program,” Washek said. “I don’t agree with all the government things, but this is one of the things that does the best to take care of a problem – and that’s a balanced meal.”

For those living on Social Security during a time of inflation, having the meal assistance can be vital, added program participant Robert Francis of Sawyer.

Seniors often learn about the services through word of mouth or are referred by family or social service staff. Reich said when receiving a referral, the commission staff will check on the individual to determine the solutions necessary to keep the person living at home.

“We all want to stay home as long as we can, as long as it’s safe for us to be there,” he said. “And so, if we can help them out by taking them a meal or doing footcare, it works out well for the senior. It works out well for the community because that person can stay where they want to stay for a little bit longer.”

Region II brings services to seven counties

Northcentral North Dakota is part of Region II with the North Dakota Aging Services Division’s Region II. The region includes the counties of Burke, Bottineau, McHenry, Mountrail, Pierce, Renville and Ward.

Services are provided throughout the region as follows:

– Meal sites are located in Anamoose, Bottineau, Bowbells, Columbus, Deering, Glenburn, Granville, Kenmare, Lansford, Lignite, Minot, Mohall, Powers Lake, Rugby, Sawyer, Sherwood, Stanley, Surrey, Towner, Velva, Westhope and Willow City.

– A frozen food delivery is made from Minot once a month to individuals throughout the region who live outside of a served community but require nutrition assistance.

– Health maintenance sites exist in Anamoose, Berthold, Bowbells, Burlington, Carpio, Douglas, Drake, Granville, Kenmare, Lignite, Mohall, Newburg, Powers Lake, Rugby, Sawyer, Towner, Upham and Velva.