OCR Text |
Show We Can Do It Ourselves, Moab Residents Prove By W. D. McArthur "It was great" was the comment of 63 oldsters who met for lunch at the Howard Balsley Hall of the Community Baptist Church last Thursday. After turning down an offer of federal money to finance the purchase of a bus for a "Meals on Wheels" program for the elderly by a group of senior citizens, the lunch was served at the hall of the church as a gesture of good will to show government agencies that Moab can take care of its own. The idea was first proposed by Mrs. Esther Balla as a substitute for the Federally-subsidized Federally-subsidized program for oldsters, old-sters, and the idea caught on and was joined by organizations organiza-tions who helped turn the luncheon into a success. The luncheon consisted of fried chicken with rice and string beans served cafeteria style by the Mary Martha Mission Society of the Community Com-munity Baptist Church. Coffee, Cof-fee, punch and cake with bread and butter were on the seven tables that filled to capacity the 63 reserved seats. The cost of the meals was only $1.00. This was the same amount the Meals on Wheels program would have charged, and as several members of the Society stressed, "We don't intend to make money, but to break even." When asked if they would like to have another luncheon next month, everyone raised their hand, and it was announced that the second Thursday of each month, at noon, would be reserved for the event, and entertainment provided after the meal. Moab has two groups of oldsters, the Senior Citizens and the American Association of Retired People with a majority of the elderly belonging belong-ing to both groups. The Senior Citizens are more of a "fun" type club, and the AARP is a political and insurance group. Esther Balla asked that anyone knowing of an aged person who was unable to attend the future luncheon by themselves, call her or a member of the Mission Society and the problem would be taken' care of. It was claimed that a recent survey of the town revealed that only three people past 60 were unable to take care of themselves in the matter of cooking and transportation. trans-portation. Several others have relatives or friends who see to their welfare. |