Lunch Program Price Changes

Lunch is still $5 for members

Our birthday lunch on the last Friday of the month features free lunch for all members during their birthday month.

We are seeing unprecedented growth at the Senior Center for 2024. Last fall, our membership grew at a steady clip of 40-50 new members per month. In February, despite the short month, we gained 78 new members. And March appears to have continued our consistent trajectory with 48 new members. While our membership dropped nearly 50 percent during the COVID-19 Pandemic, we have now regained all of the lost numbers. At the rate we are now growing, our membership will increase by another 50 percent by the end of 2025.

At only $35 per year for individuals and $55 for couples living in the same household, our membership provides a tremendous bargain. However, in terms of our revenue, membership dues only account for about 6% of our annual budget. In fact, due to increasing postage costs, distributing our monthly printed newletter, The Livewire, costs more than our membership.

Much like Costco and Amazon, our goal is to keep memberships affordable while continuing to add value, offering incentives for people to become members. Most of our activities are for members only. We also offer a discount for members for most of our special events and our travel program. To that end, it is logical for us to offer discounted pricing for members who partake in our lunch program.

Effective April 2, our lunch prices will be as follows:

• $5 for members
• $10 for nonmembers
• $5 for children age 12 or younger
• $5 for all family members who come with a senior center member

While we understand that the price increase for nonmembers may present some initial concern, we want to stress that a $35 annual membership will provide you with the $5 lunch pricing. If you attend lunch just 7 times per year, it will offset the cost of the membership, plus you'll receive all of our other benefits, including members-only activities, discounted pricing on most paid events and free technology tutoring and classes.

Unlike most senior centers, we are a private nonprofit. That means that we receive minimal financial help from city, state and federal governments. At $5 per person, we have been subsidizing our lunch program out of pocket for months, and we're at the point where we need to make the lunch program pay its own bills. As we're sure you're aware, the cost of groceries has skyrocked since the COVID-19 Pandemic. We cannot keep pace with the rising costs without charging more for lunch.

Implementing this change will help our lunch program to become self-sustaining. It will also offer another reason for people in our community to become members and support the operation and growth of our senior center.

If you have any questions about the new pricing, please reach out to Dave Tosch, exeuctive director, or Russ Alman, communications director at (509) 662-7036.