- Moving the Meals on Wheels program from the nonprofit’s headquarters on Ohio 741 to a building near the Atrium Medical Center in the section of Middletown east of Interstate 75 in Warren County. The program — which has spent more than 40 years in its current spot — served 105,000 more meals this year than last.
- Opening a fifth Head Start preschool in Carlisle.
- Working as part of a partnership to develop Hopkins Commons, a 160-unit senior residential complex to include a restaurant, banquet center and activity center in Hamilton Twp.
"We're growing exponentially," Eugene Rose, executive director of Warren County Community Services (WCCS), said last week.
While largely in response to growing demand, Rose said the Hopkins Commons and Meals on Wheels projects also reflect efforts to find ways to continue to provide the needed level of service in a time of limited government funding.
“In the long run, we have to find a completely new funding model,” he said.
Next year, the nonprofit will be running two senior centers, rather than one, and five Head Start preschools, rather than four, while anticipating no new federal funding.
"That's been a challenge for every community," said Ken Wilson, vice president of program operations for the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio. "We have a growing aging population and flat federal funding."
“The last time we received an increase in federal funding was 20 years ago. Bill Clinton was in office,” Wilson added.
So Rose turned to the Warren County Port Authority for up to $1.5 million in financing for a new Meals on Wheels facility at 6141 Market Ave. in Middletown.
“Meals on Wheels is our single fastest-growing program,” he said.
Through November, the program had served 372,435 meals, compared with 267,296 in all of 2015, to the nonprofit’s senior dining facilities and throughout the community.
About 50 employees work as drivers, cooks and administrators of the program, which has begun providing meals beyond the county line, in Trenton and the section of Middletown in Butler County. The drivers also make wellness checks while delivering the food.
The financing will be provided from funds being managed by the county treasurer, expected to result in a low interest rate and attractive lending terms.
“There’s an elder service need,” said Martin Russell, the deputy county administrator who heads the port authority and economic development office in Warren County. “It’s been prioritized as a community need.”
The nonprofit is working with Sinclair College and developer Bruce Rippe on Hopkins Commons, a $25 million development already under construction on Ohio 48, south of Lebanon.
The state of Ohio is expected to provide $250,000 in funding for the $2 million, 15,000 square foot portion of the project to include in a senior center, restaurant, banquet center and culinary classrooms.
The 160-apartment, three-story, three building complex project, also benefiting from millions in state tax credits and other government assistance, is envisioned as the center of an intergenerational community.
“By this time next year, we’ll be having a cup of coffee there,” Rose said.
Earlier this month, the port authority approved the financing for the Meals on Wheels move and leases with Rippe expected to save about $650,000 in sales tax on building materials that would otherwise have gone to the county and state. In exchange, Rippe is to pay the port authority $111,000 in closing and legal fees.
Warren County Community Services is expected to pay the authority up to $15,000 for its work, Russell said.
If all goes well, Rose anticipates remodeling will begin in February and operations will shift during the second half of 2017.
“We’ll coordinate that to make sure our clients get their meals,” said Amy Houpey, food service director for the nonprofit.
Last week, Rose said the nonprofit would purchase the former Earth Angels Learning Center in Carlisle for about $800,000, provided it qualified for a federal grant for the project.
“We have growth not only with seniors but with youngsters too,” Rose said.
To help pay for it, Rose is reaching out to the community for support and has begun marketing naming rights for the location.
This project and relocation of the Meals on Wheels, from the main campus of Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices in Turtlecreek Twp., are in recognition of the fact that demand for the agency’s services was most robust in the Franklin and Carlisle areas, Rose said.
On the other hand, Rose said the move out of the nonprofit’s headquarters is not an indication Warren County Community Services plans to split with Otterbein, as it develops Union Village on 1,400 acres including its current location.
“They have no plans for this building right now,” he said, adding a year remained on the existing lease.
“WCCS is great partner of ours, and currently it is our plan to have the building available to them as long as they have a need for it,” Gary Horning, vice president of communications and marketing at Otterbein said via email. “Phase 1 of Union Village, hopefully to begin infrastructure development this upcoming summer, is targeted to be south of both our current home office and the 741 Building, so we see no conflict.”
Horning indicated it was too early to say whether WCCS would be part of the first phase.
“We probably will wind up doing something there,” Rose said.
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