Newcomerstown Senior Center offers meals cooked onsite

Beginning Feb. 6, members of the Newcomerstown Senior Center will be able to get hot cooked meals from Tuesday through Friday as the center reopens its kitchen. The smells of Swiss steak, chicken Alfredo, lasagna, baked pork chops, stuffed peppers, brats and sauerkraut, and other offerings will add a homelike feel to the center.

For the past four years, meals for those at the Newcomerstown Senior Center were transported via to-go containers from the main senior center in Dover.

“We are all anxiously awaiting the reopening of the kitchen,” said Rosemary Landis, a member of the Newcomerstown Senior Center.

The kitchen was able to be reopened, thanks to a grant from the Congregate Meal Program, which is funded by the Area Agency on Aging Region 9 for the next three years. The program provides hot, nutritious meals in group settings.

“It’s a service that seniors really need to stay engaged at the center,” said Jamie Smith, executive director of the Tuscarawas County Senior Center and its satellite locations. “If we want our seniors to not be isolated at home and to come out and socialize and continue building friendships, you do that the easiest around food.”

Smith feels it’s better to have a meal cooked onsite. The cooking smells just make the center homier and more inviting.

“It’s just different. It’s different to have your meal delivered to you than to have it cooked right there in the kitchen,” Smith said.

Through the program members who are eligible can receive one free meal a day. Others can purchase meals for $5. The meals must be ordered in advance. Members also will be able to order meals to go.

The menus are designed to ensure they meet the dietary needs of the members, including those with certain health issues. The meals also meet the requirements for the different food groups.

The face behind all this cooking is Judi McCaman of Newcomerstown. McCaman has plenty of experience in the kitchen. She comes from a family of 10 and once cooked for church socials.

“I like to cook and I’m single, so I hardly cook anymore because it’s not worth cooking for myself,” McCaman said of her interest in working in the kitchen. She’s looking forward to hearing from members about the menu items and will be open to suggestions for future dishes.

McCaman was already a member of the senior center, which she joined after moving to the area from Medina to enjoy a quieter community, when she accepted the job.

“Everybody’s really friendly here,” McCaman said.

Prior to accepting the job as cook, McCaman came to the senior center almost every day. She enjoys the people and activities.

“We have crafts; we have tons of things to do. Sometimes they just get a card game together among themselves. We always have a puzzle going, there’s word search books and we get the newspaper every day,” McCaman said.

McCaman is pleased their new center manager Christina Malachin of Dover has added new activities. The activities and the monthly menu schedules are available online on the center’s Facebook page at Newcomerstown Senior Center or in its monthly newsletter.

Malachin was a nurse and teacher. She has always had an interest in being around people who are elderly. Her grandmother Alice Moore of Dover is a member of Tuscarawas County Senior Center in Dover, and her experiences influenced her granddaughter.

“She talked positive things about the senior center, so I made the decision to enter back into that world of being around the elderly. Honestly, I love it,” Malachin said. “I love building the activities for the seniors to socialize, stay mentally healthy and stay physically healthy.”

Malachin is happy to have already built some positive relationships with the members.

“The other day one of the members said, ‘I don’t have any grandkids, but I know when I come here that I can see one of my grandkids,’” Malachin said. “They were referring to me.”

A couple of the new activities seniors can enjoy are drumming and Geri-Fit exercise classes. Others include field trips, speakers, bingo, painting, trivia, Bible study, cards, puzzles and socialization.

The Newcomerstown Senior Center is located at 222 Bridge St. Membership fees are $10 each year. Call 740-498-4523 or email Malachin at cmalachin@tuscsc.org.