PORT TOWNSEND — Representatives of Jefferson County organizations that provide nutrition assistance to seniors and others in need will gather Friday in an effort to collaborate and come up with community solutions to cuts in Olympic Community Action Programs services.
Jefferson County Community Foundation and United Good Neighbors have joined as a task force to look at community options for meal programs to serve seniors and the homeless.
Tim Hockett, OlyCAP executive director, confirmed that 40 layoffs or unfilled job vacancies have occurred at his agency this year, the result of a dire economy and fewer state grant dollars to help fund programs.
The task force will meet at 9 a.m. Friday at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Port Townsend with others involved in community food and shelter programs, such as Community Outreach Association Shelter Team, or COAST, a group of churches that helps OlyCAP operate Jefferson County Emergency Winter Shelter in Port Townsend.
The meeting is not a public forum.
Hockett, meanwhile, said OlyCAP’s deadline to shutter Port Townsend’s senior meals program has been extended two weeks until the end of the month. That came after the program’s closure was announced last week.
He originally said June 30 that the low-cost, four-day-a-week senior dinner program in Port Townsend would end July 7.
Jefferson County Community Foundation and United Good Neighbors are committed to finding community-based solutions to the problem of reduced funding and access to hot meals for low-income seniors and people using the homeless shelter, said Carla Caldwell, UGN executive director.
“The goal is to forge collaboration and partnerships to leverage available funding, facilities, and human resources,” Caldwell said.
“Many of these agencies are receiving funds from UGN, and we want to support their ability to serve those in need.”
UGN funded $37,000 to OlyCAP this year.
Hockett said he welcomed the opportunity to partner with other groups in the community in an effort to continue senior meals.
“We believe that this model of collaboration between community groups to address community challenges will be more and more necessary as we realize the impacts of other program cuts,” Hockett said.
Hockett said similar cuts were being made in OlyCAP Clallam County services but he said he was unprepared to comment about those Monday.
The gap in funding for senior meals also presents a social issue.
“For many seniors, getting out to the community center for a meal is the major source of social interaction each day,” Kris Mayer, Jefferson County Community Foundation executive director, said.
“As capacity building organizations, Jefferson County Community Foundation and United Good Neighbors are uniquely positioned to work with agencies in finding solutions to some of our community’s major challenges, and this is certainly one of them.”
Caldwell said cancellation of senior meals was a matter “that really is a concern for us.”
Hockett said state and federal funding cuts have slammed OlyCAP’s $11 million annual budget, and Port Townsend’s meals program has the lowest number of meals daily, an average of 20 diners.
Hockett said a similar senior meals program at the Tri-Area Community Center in Chimacum is not going to be cut now, but other cuts could be considered.
OlyCAP also has senior meal programs in Port Angeles and Sequim, but the Brinnon meals program was discontinued this year, although Brinnon residents have come up with their own program.
Hockett said the same could happened in Port Townsend if other organizations step up to take over.
Hockett is also talking with Jefferson Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Mike Glenn to see if the hospital could provide means to seniors, such as a program at Forks Community Hospital.
Hockett said since January OlyCAP has cut staff, including program managers.
The agency, which once had 300 employees, he said, had 265 at the beginning of the year and now has 225.
Of those lost, 20 departed voluntarily and 20 were laid off, he said.
Oral Health Services, operated by OlyCAP, closed its Port Angeles clinic and auxiliary location in Forks in February.
A program also run by the nonprofit organization that used portable dental equipment at the OlyCAP Port Townsend offices was discontinued at the end of 2010.
The Port Angeles clinic opened in 2006 and had 5,500 patient appointments last year with an additional 1,000 emergency visits.
OlyCAP started renting space in a building near Forks Community Hospital last year to provide dental care but on a much smaller scale, Hockett said.
Hockett said OlyCAP began using portable dental equipment in the early 1990s to provide care for people across the Peninsula.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.