Busy hands: Small core of volunteers keeps Gritman Senior Center serving Ritzville

RITZVILLE — A senior center is sort of like a grocery store or a bank: every town should have one. Big cities have extensive ones, and little towns like Ritzville, well, they plug along through lots of work from volunteers. 

“Everyone is a volunteer except for our cook, Jason (Peters), who is paid,” said Vicky Johnson, director and board president of the H.E. Gritman Senior Center in Ritzville. “I believe right now we have seven people that are volunteering. Some of us are board members, and some of them are people that just volunteered to do the meals. They come in and help Jason get the meals set up for in-house meals, and then they also get things ready to deliver.” 

Meals are the largest part of what the Gritman Senior Center does. The center is open four days a week, Monday through Thursday, and serves a full, well-rounded lunch every day, more than 300 of them a month. A bit over a third of those meals are enjoyed at the center, and the rest are delivered around town by – again – volunteers. Right now, the center has seven volunteers who deliver meals, she said. 

“Sometimes we're up to as many as 12 deliveries (a day),” Johnson said. “Sometimes we're up to 15 or so deliveries. It just depends on the meal and the day. Our clientele varies, especially our takeouts, because a lot of them are homebound or are post-op or post-medical or something like that. A lot of them have a cycle. They need meals for a certain amount of time, and then they're better and they don't need the meals.” 

The drivers only deliver within the city limits, Johnson said; going out into the countryside would use a lot of gas, and the volunteers pay for their own. 

Some people also come in and pick up meals to go, Johnson said.  

“We have one gentleman that orders two on Thursday so he has another one (Friday, when the center is closed),” she said. “And a lot of people just eat half, because Jason's very generous, so quite a few people can have two meals off of one.” 

Peters, who has been cooking for the center for about three years, also cooks at a restaurant in town. It’s a little different, he said, making up meals for 15 or 20 people at a time rather than one at a time as at his other job. He rotates his menus three months at a time, he said, based on what folks liked best, as well as what he can get good deals on. Barbecued ribs are a very popular item, he said. 

“People like the meatloaf too,” he said. “And liver and onions. That was a surprise.” 

Interspersed with those favorites are standards like spaghetti, sloppy joes and – this being Ritzville – German sausage with sauerkraut, as well as the occasional new offering like tortilla chip enchiladas. 

Like the rest of the center, Peters is on a fairly tight budget. He said the local Akins grocery store is very supportive of the center. 

“I’ll go to Akins to get all my weekly supplies, because they’re really helpful to me down there,” he said. “(The manager) gives me a discount and helps me get some good deals.” 

Peters said bulk items are bought at CHEF'STORE in Spokane so that there is no time wasted opening individual cans. 

“Some of the people really, really appreciate us being here, especially the delivery people, because we know a lot of them would probably not get a good meal a lot of days.” 

Meals are $7 at the center and $8 to go, Johnson said. The extra dollar is to cover the cost of the packaging. 

Besides the meals, the H.E. Gritman Senior Center offers bingo once a month and a monthly breakfast fundraiser, and that’s about all the volunteer team can do, Johnson said. Treasurer Kathy Staley comes in to collect the money for the meals and the $15-per-year membership fees and keep the books straight. 

“A lot of people pay ahead,” she said. They send the menu for the month, check off what they want and send their check. So (Staley) has cards she used to mark off everybody so she knows every day who's prepaid and who needs to pay.” 

Johnson said the board has tried to get classes and other activities going, but it’s difficult for a small center in the middle of wheat country. There are occasional classes from local businesses, and in April, Aging & Adult Care of Central Washington brought in its A Matter of Balance class to help seniors prevent falls. Johnson said she’s been trying to get a safe driving course through the AARP, but the organization couldn’t find a driver who would come out to Ritzville to lead it. 

The center will have a rummage sale coming June 13-14 to raise funds, Johnson said. Seeing some of the games and things that donors have dropped off made her think of some ideas that she’d like to see implemented if the center could find the people for it. 

“When we have (an activity) we need a volunteer here,” Johnson said. “Even if people were just coming in to play cribbage or something, we need one of the volunteers here. So right now, that limits a little bit how much we can do. But if we got more volunteers to help out, we’d certainly have an afternoon a month where people can come in and play cribbage or whatever they want to do.” 

H.E. Gritman Senior Center 
118 W. Main Ave., Ritzville
509-659-1921
[email protected]
Meal deliveries 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Call the day before to reserve a delivery 

Breakfast 7:30-10:30 a.m. 2nd Friday of each month 

    The H.E. Gritman Senior Center serves more than 300 meals a month, more than 100 of which are eaten at the center. The pork roast these folks are enjoying is a popular offering, as are barbecued ribs and meatloaf.
  

    The front room of the H.E. Gritman Senior Center is invitingly decorated, thanks to a volunteer who maintains it.
  

    The H.E. Gritman Senior Center is located in Ritzville’s iconic Gritman Building, built in 1902.