SALINA, Okla. — The Senior Citizens Center in Salina, OK serves hot lunches, like fried chicken, stew with cornbread, and chicken enchiladas, for $5 a plate every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The Center’s President, Joe Brown, said, “We serve probably an average of 30 meals a day. It’s a place to go and spend time with your friends.”

But, Brown said they’ve been struggling with the rising cost of food.

Brown said, “The cost of the meal was right at $5, and it’s now almost $10 a meal, in the last 8 months. So, our little pile of money is dwindling.”

So far, Brown said they’ve been able to avoid raising the price of the meals, thanks to community partners like the Cherokee Nation and the United Way.

The town’s mayor Randall Plumlee said they’re still falling short, so he launched a Facebook fundraising page to try to get more support.

Mayor Plumlee said, “It will go to the food costs here at the Senior Citizens Center, and allow us to possibly even lower the cost if we raise enough money.”

Mayor Plumlee said keeping the cost low is important because the meals feed some of the people who helped build today’s community of salina.

Mayor Plumlee said, “It hurts me a lot to see our senior citizens are already hurting on fixed incomes that barely allow them to live whether it be rent or their utilities because utilities have continued going up. But, it hits me personally, because my grandparents are part of that generation where they worked their whole lives and don’t have anything to fall back on.”

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