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Senior Resource Center asks Sawyer County for $55,000 to sustain Meals on Wheels
Summary
Joey Johnson, director of the Senior Resource Center, told county supervisors the center needs an additional $55,000 for 2026 to avoid scaling back Meals on Wheels service; the county finance staff later proposed a smaller increase in the county allocation.
Joey Johnson, director of the Senior Resource Center, told Sawyer County supervisors the center needs an additional $55,000 for its 2026 budget to avoid cutting the Meals on Wheels program.
The request came during public comment and the center's budget presentation. Johnson said the program is running a structural shortfall: donation solicitations returned about $48,000 from more than $101,000 in requests, participant donations do not cover full cost, and state contract reimbursements are delayed and reduced. "We need about $55,000 to feel comfortable next year," Johnson said. He said the program serves about 400 people in the county and that the center now asks a suggested donation of $7 for delivered meals, while the full cost per delivered meal is about $14.78.
Why it matters: Johnson said Meals on Wheels provides more than food; drivers perform welfare checks and identify urgent needs that would otherwise go unnoticed. Don Kissinger, a Meals on Wheels driver and board member, described welfare checks and on‑route interventions — including calling emergency responders after finding a client trapped — and urged support. "These people are your parents, your grandmas, your aunts and uncles," Kissinger said. "We need to take care of those people."
Johnson outlined program finances and contingency options. He said the center had no dedicated funds for Meals on Wheels since February, that state contract reimbursements have lagged by months, and that a July claim produced about $9,000. He described fundraising and volunteer burdens (about 60 fundraisers per year requiring substantial staff and volunteer hours) and said, if funding does not increase, the center may have to institute a prioritization system that limits deliveries by need level or raise the suggested donation.
County finance staff later reviewed the center's formal budget request as part of the preliminary 2026 materials. The staff memo said the center's gross request was $240,889, of which $79,888 is a pass‑through grant; the net county ask was listed as $155,000. Finance staff recommended reducing the requested county allocation by $9,889, which staff said would still represent a $5,000 increase over the county allocation the previous year.
No formal spending decision was made at the meeting. The senior center presentation was treated as information for the county's preliminary budget process; any change to county support will be decided through the county's budget deliberations and appropriation process.
Ending: The Senior Resource Center's funding need will be considered as part of the county's ongoing 2026 budget work; the board received the presentation and heard public testimony from staff and a driver but took no immediate action.
