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By Molly Roberts
It all started with a donation from Jessica Hochstedler Yoder and Yoder & Bigley Relators, who stepped forward to donate hot meals to area seniors every Thursday in January and February. That got the conversation going between Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh and Wellman City Administrator Kelly Litwiller about how to best meet the needs of seniors in the community.
The Cities of Kalona and Wellman are partnering to piggy-back off that donation to provide hot meals to seniors on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well.
“The need for seniors was out there,” Schlabaugh said. “They weren’t necessarily using the pop-up pantries because they didn’t need the bulk food. The pop-up pantry boxes would be 40-50 pounds and a lot of seniors didn’t feel comfortable getting those because it was just too much.”
Kalona to deliver free food bags to senior citizens Riverside Mayor Allen Schneider (left) and Mid-Prairie school board member Gabrielle Frederick pack food boxes at the Kalona city shop on Saturday morning. Posted
By Molly Roberts
After receiving what City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh called “overwhelming financial support” for the city’s pop-up pantries, the City of Kalona is looking to expand their food offering program to cater directly to seniors.
For some seniors, the boxes provided at the city’s previous pop-up pantries have been too much food the boxes have been heavy and full of items that not all seniors can necessarily use. For that reason, the city hopes to create food bags that can be delivered to seniors’ homes. These bags would contain less in quantity but could possibly contain some perishable items, such as milk and fruit.