Longmeadow Adult Center kitchen to undergo renovation

Date: 1/22/2015

LONGMEADOW – The Adult Center’s kitchen is currently being renovated for a period of at least three to four weeks, during which East Longmeadow's Council on Aging will cook and deliver meals to Longmeadow residents.

Town Manager Stephen Crane said the entire project is estimated at $49,517 with a budget of $50,000. The plumbing and electrical is being completed by the town and the cost of appliances is estimated to be $32,000.

“Greater Springfield Senior Services provides funding for our meals program through a grant and as part of the grant they annually inspect our kitchen,” he added. “In recent years they have noted that some of the equipment is in need of upgrades to comply with code requirements that have changed since the kitchen was first installed.” 

Council on Aging Director Amy Saada said the entire kitchen is being redone – floor to ceiling –    with replacement equipment such as a new stove and fridge.

“It’s outdated equipment and they’ll be able to prepare meals in a more efficient manner and just the layout of the kitchen; we’ll have a new dishwasher, which is a slide through instead of lifting the heavy racks for the volunteers that do the dishes,” she added.

Saada said Meals on Wheels is an important program for the town, with about 50 meals or more being delivered every day and about 45 in-house meals per day, which has increased during the past several months.

“In many cases, it may be the only square meal some seniors in our town have in a day, especially during the colder winter months,” Crane said. “We are very grateful to the town of East Longmeadow’s senior center and for their willingness to work with us to continue this extremely valuable program during the kitchen renovations.”

Seniors who enjoy the town’s meals program in the Adult Center’s dining room should make sure to check with the Adult Center staff to make sure the kitchen is open before arriving at the center within the following weeks in case the project goes beyond its scheduled completion date of if there is inclement weather, Crane said.

East Longmeadow Council on Aging Director Carolyn Brennan said Crane contacting her when he was the acting Council on Aging director before Saada was appointed as director.

“We had spoken about other things before that and he called and I said, ‘Absolutely, we’ll help them out,’” Brennan added. “Because we have everything. We have the meal sealer, we know how to do routes, the coolers, we follow all the regulations. So it was kind of a no-brainer.”

Longmeadow meals program volunteers will bring route lists the day before delivery while the East Longmeadow meals staff cooks the food, she said.

“Just like we do our meals, we’re going to set up all of the meals, all of the routes for them and their drivers are going to pick up their meals from our location [and] do the delivery,” Brennan noted.

Crane said the town will be paying East Longmeadow $4 per meal.

Typically, the East Longmeadow Council on Aging’s meals program offers 70 Meals on Wheels per day, Brennan said. In-house meals vary from 40 to 120 meals per day in East Longmeadow.