Star to seek commercial kitchen facility for seniors ♥

As published in the Courier-Tribune on March 2, 2012

By Hugh Martin

STAR — During a special called meeting Wednesday afternoon, commissioners from the Town of Star agreed to cooperate with the Montgomery County Council on Aging in transforming the former Emergency Services building to a community center that would include a certified kitchen.

The building housed the Star fire and police departments until they relocated to the new Star Municipal Building several years ago. Donna Strong, representing the rescue group that has since utilized the facility, told commissioners that the group had decided to sell their equipment, but will remain organized as a first responder group.

The absence of the rescue equipment opens the building for other uses.

Mike Rood, director of the Montgomery Council on Aging, said that the building is a perfect fit for a certified kitchen that can be used to prepare meals for senior citizens.

Rood said that there are 6,000 senior citizens in Montgomery County, of which 4,000 are undernourished. “We are only able to feed around 150 of the 4,000,” he said.

A $70,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation was received last year to convert the kitchen area of the Montgomery County Agricultural Center in Troy for the same use, but county officials have balked on allowing the refurbishment. The county recently offered to sell the building to Montgomery Community College in exchange for anticipated funds from a one-quarter cent sales tax that will take effect April 1. MCC trustees rejected the offer.

Rood said that the goal would be to build the commercial kitchen in partnership with the Town of Star, which owns the building. The senior nutrition program in Montgomery County is currently spending $100,000 a year to purchase meals that are made in Fayetteville and trucked daily to sites in the county.

“A model from Cabarrus County shows that we can prepare the meals at a lower cost,” Rood told commissioners. He says that even with the addition of four new part-time employees, the council will save money.

Star Mayor Susan Eggleston said that studies had shown that every dollar spent in the county will turn over six times. “The $100,000 that is going to Fayetteville now would become $600,000 for Montgomery County if it is kept here,” she said.

Rood said supplies would be purchased from local vendors. Farmers that are certified by the N.C. Department of Agriculture’s “Good Agricultural Practices” (GAP) program would be able to sell to the council. Cooperative Extension Director Molly Alexi said that there are currently no certified farms in the county, but several are working toward certification.

Rood said the Council on Aging would fund the facility and pay the operating expenses.

“The Town of Star will not have to provide any funds for this,” he said.

The agreement to build the facility will depend on approval by the Golden Leaf Foundation. Rood said that letters of support from the Town of Star, Cooperative Extension and Montgomery County would be needed for that approval to occur. Star commissioners approved the development of a lease agreement with the Council on Aging.

“Everything sounds positive,” Rood told the board

Initial plans for the facility will include the kitchen, classroom, space for a possible Star food pantry and bulk storage for a Second Harvest Food Bank depot. The library, located in the front of the building, would have room for future expansion.

At present Second Harvest has a bulk depot in Mount Gilead, but that facility will be closing and relocating to Stanly County.

Rood said that Montgomery Cooperative Extension plans to use the facility for programming and 4-H activities. Local farmers will be able to use the kitchen afternoons and evenings to produce value-added products, such as jams, jellies and baked goods. It is hoped that Troy/Montgomery Senior Center staff will also use the facility for programming.