As Marion County rolls out its new senior meals program, users of the current one offered through the Knoxville Senior Center were concerned they would lose the opportunity for regular meals or companionship…but the Senior Center says it will start doing that in-house.

Marion County Public Health Director Kim Dorn spoke with a number of clients Wednesday at the Senior Center, located in the basement of Knoxville City Hall. The center’s kitchen has been used for meal preparation up until now, but the county has switched to using Hy-Vee for food preparation and packaging.

Dorn says those who choose to go through the county’s meal program will be contacted by a caseworker, who will not only assess their meal requirements and how much they can pay but will determine what other health and social services they could have use for.

“And then we’re going to talk to you about your nutritional needs, but also some of the other needs that you might have. You might have other needs that you need addressed; and so we’re going to connect you with a care coordinator and we’ll address the needs, all of your needs, and help you out with other things that you might have need for,” Dorn says.

This plan has not been welcomed by a lot of the Senior Center’s clients, and in response the Knoxville Senior Center Board is going its own way with meal service; it plans on preparing and serving its own food in house, using the current kitchen.

The county’s contract runs through May 1st, but on April 1st it will start providing meals delivered from Pella.

The Senior Center says once all the licensing and paperwork issues are settled, they can begin serving their own meals on May 1st using the same system clients have been used to.