“I’m a morning person—I love coming in early.”

Monica Diaz, kitchen assistant for Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (GLCAP), has been coming in early for more than 20 years. Her day starts at 6 a.m. in the Fremont Senior Center kitchen, checking temperatures, packing cold items, and doing other work to prepare for lunch.

Monica is part of the nutrition staff that helps feed hundreds of Sandusky County seniors every year as part of GLCAP’s Senior Services programs. Their work feeds seniors who visit the Clyde, Fremont, or Gibsonburg senior center sites for Monday-Thursday lunches, as well as homebound seniors who take part in GLCAP’s Meals on Wheels program and receive home-delivered lunches. 

“I like the people I work with,” Monica said. “I like talking with our seniors, coming out and saying ‘hi,’ and getting to know them.”

Once meals are prepared in the Fremont Senior Center, kitchen staff package the lunches for Meals on Wheels drivers to deliver to seniors throughout the county, as well as distributed to the Clyde and Gibsonburg senior center locations. Staff prepare approximately 300 meals per day. Last year, Senior Services staff provided 75,936 meals to seniors, including shelf-stable meals for Meals on Wheels customers to eat on Fridays.

Alexis Massie, nutrition coordinator, oversees menu preparation and kitchen operations for GLCAP Senior Services. She ensures that meals meet the USDA recommended guidelines for older adults, developing menus that include the appropriate amounts of meat, grain, vegetables, fruit, and milk for lunchtime meals. 

“The challenge is always to come up with something that our diners will enjoy and are familiar with,” Alexis said. “Many seniors prefer menus that include more comfort foods, like meatloaf, beef tips, and mashed potatoes.”

Alexis works to plan menus that are varied as well as healthy, especially regarding sodium.

“We try to avoid processed food and prepare everything homemade wherever we can,” she said. “We make things like sauces and gravies from scratch to stay healthy and lower sodium in our meals.”

In the latest quarterly survey, senior participants, nearly 98% of respondents said their meals were tasty and reported an overall satisfaction with the service. 

“We always appreciate the positive feedback from seniors and take time to look at ways in which we can improve,” Alexis said. 

Information on monthly menus and more GLCAP Senior Services is available in the monthly Seniors on the Move newsletter at www.glcap.org/seniors, or by calling 1-800-775-9767.