July 2004 - Lunch is served

Lunches served at Elder Services’ congregate meal sites and to homebound elders five days a week are the nutritious result of a process that begins in Washington, DC, and ends on Berkshire County tables.

Every lunch served at the county’s 14 congregate meal sites and by Meals on Wheels must adhere to regulations and criteria established by Federal law and state and local authorities. Elder Services’ Nutrition Department is responsible for making sure that all the rules for meals are followed down to the last calorie, vitamin and mineral.


	Peggy Mill, a volunteer, and Jill Monterroso, manager of the congregatesite at the Pittsfield Senior Center for 27 years, preparing plates for a recent meal.

More than 250 elders gather for lunch at the sites, and almost 800 homebound clients receive Meals on Wheels.

Under an amendment to the Older Americans Act adopted by Congress in 1972, anyone age 60 or older is eligible to receive a meal that meets at least one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for calories, fat and sodium set by the National Food and Nutrition Board.

The 29-year-old Elder Services Elderly Nutrition Program is funded by the Federal and State governments augmented by $2-per-meal suggested contributions from meal recipients and by donations.

Karen Blessin, a registered dietician who worked for seven years as Congregate Meal Site Coordinator at Elder Services and is now under contract as food consultant, is responsible for making a comprehensive evaluation of Elder Services' kitchen twice a year for assurance that proper health and safety food-handling procedures are followed and that strict food temperature requirements are observed. She visits congregate sites periodically to chat with clients about their food concerns and conducts food-safety training courses for site directors, food handlers and supervisors.

Her primary responsibility is to work with Dave Gage, Elder Services’ Food Service Manager, in developing menus for four-week cycles of meals prepared under his supervision in the Lanesboro kitchen for distribution throughout the county to homes and the congregate sites.


	Theresa Talarico, a veteran volunteer, is serving lunch to Ed Genovese,98-year-old stepfather of Jerry Orbach of television’s “Law and Order”fame. Genovese has been a regular at the congregate site at the Pittsfield Senior Center for 25 years.

Blessin and Gage work under strict guidelines specifying that no complete meal can be repeated during a month, that no salt can be added and that a meal contains no more than 1,300 milligrams of sodium.

• 1 helping of meat or an alternative such as an egg, an ounce of cheese or a tablespoon of peanut butter.

Gage buys all the provisions and compiles the menus, which Blessin reviews for input by Sandy Alfonso, Elder Services’ Nutrition Services Supervisor, and the congregate meal site directors.


	Helen Frydel, left, joined Ethelyn Webb, who learned about the Congregate site when she was a temporary client of Meals on Wheels while recovering from an illness. She liked it so much that she has become a lunchtime regular.

"Basically, my part of it is making sure the menus meet all the requirements as far as sodium and calories are concerned," Blessin said in an interview, "and how many times we can have beef on the menu, and that chicken is on once a week. The hard thing is making sure we have a good source of Vitamin C in every meal and Vitamin A a couple of times a week."

"Dave has to follow the rules to make sure we comply . We always meet the requirements, and sometimes we even exceed them. It’s quite a balancing act, when you plan a menu, to try to follow all the rules and also think about things like the color or the texture of a meal. Considering the number of people we serve every day, it does seem that most people are satisfied that we are doing the job, and we’ve been doing it a long time."

Berkshire Senior Online