Ironton Senior Center asks Lawrence County for $15,000 to match $40,000 Area Agency grant

Third and Center representatives asked the Lawrence County Commissioners on Jan. 21 for a $15,000 county contribution to help match an Area Agency on Aging congregate meal service grant worth $40,000 through 2026.

The request came during an appearance by Savannah (Third and Center representative) and Zoe Clay, a family and consumer sciences educator with Ohio State University Extension. Savannah summarized the Ironton Senior Center’s 2024 programming, saying the center served 2,381 meals last year and offered digital literacy classes, chair exercises, art and craft classes, health screenings and community outings. She said the county’s $15,000 contribution last year supported those activities and appears as a line item in the center’s 2025 budget projections.

Zoe Clay described the congregate meal service grant and its requirements. “This congregate meal service grant from the area agency on aging is a wonderful opportunity,” Clay said. “Right now, all of the seniors who come to the senior center pay $4 a meal. This would eliminate all that cost for our seniors. And it would allow us to also have the meals, the menus prepared by a registered dietitian ensuring that they’re meeting all those nutritional requirements.”

Clay said the $40,000 award is a contract through 2026 and that the grant requires coordinating with a family and consumer sciences educator; she said that coordination would also expand nutrition classes and food-safety work at the center. Clay added the grant funds meals and the cook and would allow staff to better connect seniors with services including the Facing Hunger Food Bank, SNAP resources and area agency on aging programs. She said the application includes monthly reporting requirements to identify and respond to seniors’ needs.

Savannah told commissioners the center partners with the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization for space, Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services and Lawrence County EMS for services, City National Bank for fraud-prevention programming, and Ohio University Southern for upcoming arts classes. She also listed planned 2025 events including a trash-bash cleanup and a summer solstice music and arts festival.

A commissioner moved to make the $15,000 donation the county sets aside each year for the organization; the transcript records the motion being offered but does not record a completed vote in the provided excerpt.

Why it matters: If approved and matched, the grant would remove the $4-per-meal charge for seniors who attend the Ironton Senior Center and would pay for menu planning by a registered dietitian and a cook, increasing the center’s ability to provide nutritionally reviewed meals and to track senior needs.

The commissioners did not specify conditions or a final vote in the portion of the transcript provided.

The commissioners heard the request during the regular meeting in Ironton on Jan. 21, 2025.