Senior dining hires new director

By NICK NARIGON

Michelle Barnum, Hartwick, center, will serve as the site manager at Marengo Senior Dining. Also pictured are Marengo Senior Dining volunteers Doris Weiss, left, and Millie Murphy, right.

A new site manager has been hired for Marengo Senior Dining.

Michelle Barnum, Hartwick, served her first day as the site manager for Marengo Senior Dining Tuesday, Sept. 8. She replaces Scott Young, who left over a month ago.

Barnum works for Horizons, a subsidiary of the Iowa Heritage Agency for Aging. Horizons provides the meals for senior dining and the salary for the site manager.

Barnum is originally from Grinnell and has been working with senior citizens since she was 16. She started out as a volunteer, and then began working at nursing homes in various capacities. She has been a CNA, a dietary aide, scheduled activities and then went into accounting.

Most recently, Barnum worked at Windsor Manor, Grinnell, in a temporary position.

After working on the business side of things for a while, Barnum said she missed working one on one with seniors, and that is what attracted her to the site manager position at Marengo Senior Dining.

“I look forward to getting to know the community,” she said. “I am very approachable and I look to be a part of the community through the senior center.”

She said she is excited to begin some new events and activities at senior dining. Barnum said she hopes to host Bingo every Wednesday and bring in musical entertainment on a regular basis.

“I would like to bring in activities that will entice people to come here as well as educate seniors,” Barnum said.

In addition to entertainment, a blood pressure clinic is held at Marengo Senior Dining the first Friday of every month, and there are experts who come to speak about hospice, Medicare and other issues important to seniors.

The volunteers at Marengo Senior Dining are fantastic, Barnum said, but they still need more helpers. She said volunteers are needed to help deliver meals, serve food at the site and to clean up.

Volunteer drivers are reimbursed at $0.38 a mile and the average delivery route is three miles.

In addition, she said she would like to add a white board so she can post an activities calendar in the window. She said she would also like to get a CD player and play big band music during dinner and activities.

Overall, Barnum said the people at Marengo Senior Dining have made her feel welcome and have pointed her in the right direction.

“This is a really nice facility. I am just trying to get my feet wet,” Barnum said. “I would like to organize events where the seniors can give back to the community. I want them to be involved in the community and the community involved in them. The seniors deserve our utmost respect. They took care of us for years and now it is our turn to take care of them. They did their job and now it is our turn.”

Since Marengo Senior Dining moved to its current site, attendance has risen to 16 to 20 visitors a day for lunch. In addition, the volunteers deliver to 20 or more homes a day.

Marengo Senior Dining is open from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The suggested payment for meals is $3 for customers over the age of 65. The price for a meal for anyone under 65 is $4.

Marengo Senior Dining is located at 1083 Court Ave., Marengo. The telephone number is (319) 642-5817.

 

UPDATED September 16, 2009 9:50 AM