Breckenridge Senior Center offers meals, camaraderie
After lunch last Thursday, a group of women were gathered around a table at the Breckenridge Senior Citizens Center. They were playing a game of Liverpool Rummy, drawing and discarding cards as they laughed and chatted.
Nearby, a couple of people watched television. Cheryle Vanmeter, the center’s director, had just finished washing the dishes after the day’s potluck lunch. As the temperature outside neared 100, everyone was enjoying the chance to stay inside and avoid the heat.
A few hours earlier, the place had been filled with bingo players, vying for the chance to pick an item from the prize table, which is filled with things such as pretzels, dish soap, paper towels and other snacks and household and personal care products. Each bingo win gets the winner a trip to the table.
Vanmeter said the center gives people a chance to get out of the house and visit with others. “You get a nutritional meal and a friendly atmosphere,” she said.
Pauline Pendleton, left, makes change for Sandy and Dick Rogers on Friday at the Senior Citizens Center. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Three days a week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – from 10 a.m. until 12:15 p.m., the Senior Citizens Center serves a hot meal, cooked by the staff, which includes Vanmeter, Nelda Brown and Amanda Jamison. Several volunteers also help out at the center. The meals are affordable — $3 each for seniors age 60 and older, and $4 for those age 59 and younger. The potluck meal after bingo on Thursdays costs $2 each.
Meals are delivered to homebound senior citizens on the center’s meal days. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Meals on Wheels program delivers meals to the homebound. On the first, second and fourth Thursdays, the Food Bank visits the center to distribute food to those in need.
The meals are planned out by the month and offer something different each meal day. Some of the entrees scheduled for August include chicken fried steak, taco salad, barbecued chicken, salmon patties and more. Each meal also includes a vegetable or two, usually some type of bread, dessert and a drink. The menus are available at the Senior Citizens Center or online at the Breckenridge Texan. Click here to see the menu.
Other activities at the Senior Citizens Center include dominoes, jigsaw puzzles and books for reading. On the first and third Fridays of the month, crochet and knitting are offered.
The Breckenridge Senior Citizens Center is located at 210 N. Smith St. It is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is closed on the weekends and on holidays. For more information, call the center at 254-559-8742.
Nelda Brown gets a couple of plates ready for visitors to the Breckenridge Senior Citizens Center on Friday. The center serves lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Story by Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Cutline, top photo: Playing Liverpool Rummy last Thursday afternoon at the Breckenridge Senior Citizens Center were Christy Lancaster, Sally Shepherd, Rosie Dill, Rudy Newcomb and Beth Morris. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
