ROCKDALE, Texas — The Rockdale Senior Citizens Center is hosting a silent auction to raise money for its meal program.
- The Rockdale Senior Citizens Center provides hot meals to seniors in Rockdale and Cameron, but it's struggling to bear high-food costs.
- The center feeds about 90 seniors, including home-bound seniors five days a week, costing the center about $3,000 per week.
- Now, they're asking the community to support its silent auction to keep the program.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Caroline Jones knows she can rely on the Rockdale Senior Center for at least one hot meal a day.
“It helps me come once a day, and I have a good meal because I’m home alone all the time," she said.
Costing about $7, un-affordable for seniors here, forcing the center to take care of the costs.
But it's getting hard.
“It takes a lot, and as you know, food costs have gone up, so when you’re feeding people five days a week, it costs to do that," Director Carolyn Cooper said.
The center feeds at least 40 seniors per day, including at least 50 home-bound seniors, totaling $630 a day.
It's only increasing.
Across the U.S., about 1 in 6 adults are 65 and older.
Over half are living with disabilities, making cooking harder.
But Cooper is trying to prevent the program from ending.
“Some of them this is only the hot meal they get a day. They’ll go home and eat cereal or a sandwich in the evening," she said.
Now, the center is hosting a silent auction to raise money to keep the program going, especially for Jones since the program is serving another purpose.
“I come for everything: the people, the center, and the meals. Getting out of the house, the main thing is getting out of the house and seeing people," Jones said.
If you would like to support, you can contact or visit the center to bid on items until March 8.
