North Anoka Meals on Wheels will shut down

By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune

Last update: June 6, 2008 - 9:25 PM

After 27 years, a small Meals on Wheels program in Anoka County will close at the end of the month, a victim of high costs and a shift in funding.

North Anoka Meals on Wheels, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in East Bethel, delivers meals daily to about 70 older or disabled clients. The director could not be reached for comment Friday.

Almost all clients will be picked up by Anoka Champlin Meals on Wheels at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, said Carolyn Tonneson. She heads Metro Meals on Wheels, which coordinates 37 of the 43 programs in the metro area.

Tonneson noted that all Meals on Wheels programs have struggled with higher costs and flat government help, "but this is the only program to close, and nobody has been turned away."

Last year, about 7,600 people in the metro area received about 1.1 million home-delivered meals, she said. More than half are paid for by government programs.

The North Anoka program is among the smallest in the region and "has had very high costs," said Dawn Simonson, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging. Through a contract with Volunteers of America, her agency funnels government funds to North Anoka and six other subcontractors.

North Anoka asks clients for a $6.20 donation per meal. When they go to the Anoka Champlin program, they will be asked for $4, "so they will benefit from the change," said Nancy Christianson of Volunteers of American.

North Anoka received substantially less money this year after Volunteers of America decided to pay each vendor the same base payment -- $6.50 per meal, minus donations the vendor raises -- instead of their reported cost.

To find a Meals on Wheels program in Minnesota, call the Senior LinkAge Line at 1-800-333-2433.

Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253

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