Archive: Around Town

Town Supervisor Steve Farkas was at Woodsedge Wednesday serving lunch to 15 residents there.  He was part of Foodnet's Mayors for Meals day, part of a national program that included 425 mayors in all 50 states.   Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson also helped serve meals at Titus Towers, Groton Town Supervisor Glenn Morey delivered meals at Groton Center Village Court, and Ulysses Town Supervisor Doug Austic delivered meals in Trumansburg.  Mayors for Meals is a national day organized by Meals On Wheels organization.


"Foodnet really is a good program," says Farkas.  "A lot of folks benefit from it."  The Mayors for Meals event puts the spotlight on the program that provides home-delivered meals to older adults who are unable to cook a main meal due to illness, frailty and/or disability.  The program provides more than 198,000 meals each year to about 1,000 older adults and other persons at nutritional risk.  "We're providing food throughout the county to about 500 per day," says Foodnet Director Stephen Griffin.  125 of those are served in facilities such as Woodsedge while the other 375 are delivered door to door in a "meals on wheels" program.

"This is our first time doing mayors," says Griffin.  "The idea came to our attention from the national group.  It seemed timely for us, because over the last three or four years our services have grown a lot.  We've been looking to diversify and broaden our resources."

Lansing has been involved in the Foodnet program for some time now.  "We've had success in the Town of Lansing," Griffin says.  "About three years ago one of our board members, Bob Baker, went with me to the Town and met with Steve Farkas and were able to get a proposal before the Town board to help fund our services there.  That resulted in us being able to get $4500 support from the Town for the past 3 years."  Farkas says the County had cut back its funding for the program, but this year restored it to its original level.

Griffin says that helped give the program the legitimacy it needed to approach other towns and funding sources.  "We were able to use that as a launching board, and we've had similar support from the Town of Groton and the Town of Ulysses.  It was a positive influence on our being able to secure support from the Ithaca Renewal Agency."

Farkas said he was glad to be a part of the event, especially because it was at Woodsedge.  "They're a great group of folks.  In fact, when I made the decision to run for Supervisor, the folks at Woodsedge were some of my greater supporters.  So I thought I needed to do something back.  Foodnet is such a great program."

After he served the Woodsedge residents Farkas was invited to sit down for lunch himself.  He was happy to do so.  "They cook a lot better than I do!" he says.

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