by Kate Shunney
Paw Paw’s Senior Center, located on the ground floor of the Mountaineer Health Clinic, is open five days a week from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and operates as a gathering place for older citizens who come to eat together, do activities and share stories. 
Come September 15, officials with the Senior Life Services of Morgan County (SLSMC) say the daily operations of the center will change.
They are accepting public comment about the proposed changes until next Monday, August 18, according to a Public Notice in this paper.
Paw Paw’s facility will be transitioned from a Senior Center to a “feeding site” where hot meals will be delivered for lunch gatherings three days each week – Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Prepared frozen meals will be offered to center patrons for the other days of the week, said Executive Director Tammy Kees. Kees said the center will likely be open from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. – long enough for seniors to eat lunch and socialize.
The move is meant to save operating expenses for a center that Kees says is “completely underutilized.”
She said state and federal funding falls short of what it costs to keep the center fully open.
“SLSMC presently has four nutrition sites throughout the county. Berkeley Springs, Paw Paw, Greenwood, and Pleasant View. Our plan is to model the Paw Paw site after the Greenwood and Pleasant View locations,” Kees told The Morgan Messenger in an email about the new plans.
“At those locations, SLSMC does not pay for rent nor utilities. We deliver the food, our driver, volunteers, and seniors serve the meals. When finished and everyone has had a chance to socialize, the driver packs up and returns to the main office in Berkeley Springs. In both Greenwood and Pleasant View, we only deliver weekly. However, in Paw Paw our plan is to deliver hot meals 3 times per week and offer fully prepared frozen meals for the other days. Meals will continue to be delivered to the qualifying homebound population of Paw Paw,” Kees said in her email.
In a Public Notice provided to the paper, residents of Paw Paw are asked to call the Berkeley Springs Senior Center the day before hot meals are to be served to request a meal.
According to Kees, a “town hall-type meeting” was held at the Paw Paw Senior Center in April to explain the funding difficulties and possible actions to offset funding cuts.
“I explained that the lack of participation was a major problem and that we were there to seek suggestions and asking the community itself to help be part of the solution to make the space a place where seniors wanted to attend on a daily or weekly basis,” Kees said in her email. “We are only reimbursed for meals served.”
She said the state and federal government reimburse the Senior Life Services $7 per meal served and the centers ask for a donation of $4 toward the meal costs.
“Even if we were to receive $11.00 per meal, it would not cover the expense of preparing a meal these days,” said Kees.
Paw Paw averages 14 people a day at the lunch meal, meaning the center would, at most, be reimbursed $154 per day for the lunch service.
Kees claims that the overhead expenses of the Paw Paw center
“average about $1500 per month. That does not include wages, food costs, etc.” she said.
“The expense and lack of participation is requiring us to pivot on how to best serve the community,” Kees said.
She said her board of directors was advised by the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services Commissioner Dianna Graves to close the Paw Paw site due to lack of participation there. Kees said the Upper Potomac Area Agency on Aging was also advising the move.
In an email to The Morgan Messenger, Commissioner Graves confirmed she did favor the move to close the Paw Paw center.
“I believe the board made the right decision so there will be a center in the county for years to come,” Commissioner Graves said in a Monday email.
She supported the decision because the senior center board “found its continued operation to be financially unsustainable.”
Are there other options?
Community members in Paw Paw are concerned about the change to a “feeding site” and have a set a “Save the Paw Paw Senior Center” public meeting for Thursday, August 21 at the Paw Paw Fire hall at 5:30 p.m. to discuss options.
A sign for the meeting says “The senior members of our community deserve more! Please join us for an open discussion of ideas and solutions so we can continue to serve seniors in this area of Morgan County.”
The meeting is not organized or sponsored by the Senior Life Services of Morgan County, the flier says.
Public feedback about the proposed changes at Paw Paw’s Senior Center can be sent to seniorlifeservices@slsmc.org through August 18. All comments and concerns will be presented at the next meeting of the Board of Directors.