The head of the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center, which has provided services to Harrisburg people aged 60 and above, claims that the institution is in financial difficulties without recompense because its efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic depleted its funds.
Executive director of the center Les Ford said he spent the entire year trying to persuade Harrisburg municipal officials to release federal monies from the American Rescue Plan Act to assist.
Prior to the pandemic, Dauphin County and state funds helped the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center maintain its financial stability.
However, in order to provide extra meals to seniors who were confined to their homes during the epidemic, the senior center had to draw from its own funds. The center and the police worked together to provide emergency boxes early in the epidemic, and they continued this initiative after the police left the project.
Ford claimed that he backed his own Subaru up to the goods Bank Pantry every Monday at 7:30 a.m. and then delivered the goods. Additionally, he stated that 262 seniors received COVID injections from the center during the pandemic.
However, the experiment came to an end when the senior center was unable to pay the Food Bank back.
In late March, the city council of Harrisburg decided to allocate $250,000 in ARPA monies for senior programs. However, councilors couldn’t agree on which particular group, if any, would get those cash.
Before the funding was offered to the city council at its meeting on November 26, Ford claimed to have persuaded Mayor Wanda Williams’ administration in October to support the donation to the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center.
Because of concerns about how the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center was chosen as the exclusive recipient of such funding, the city council decided to put the matter on hold.
Danielle Bowers, president of the city council, said there was no process. It was simply decided that the funds would go to the senior center.
“It is unfair and inequitable to give the money to the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center without a formal process to vet applications,” Bowers told PennLive on Wednesday, pointing out that the city council left the March allocation open-ended so any senior center could apply.
It is nothing against the (Heinz-Menaker senior center), Bowers said. The administration is criticized for its lack of creativity in creating a formal procedure for allocating those money.
In a Dec. 3 memo, Dauphin County acknowledged two other senior centers in Harrisburg: B nai B rith Senior Center and Lick Towers Senior Center (which is undergoing renovations and will reopen in Jan. 2026.)
The Heinz-Menaker Senior Center is the only senior center certified by Dauphin County and Harrisburg to offer social, cultural, and health-related services, making it the only one eligible for that funding, according to a press release issued by the Williams administration on December 4. The mayor s spokeswoman did not answer emailed questions Wedneday about how Heinz-Menaker was selected and what disqualifies the other two senior centers from applying for the money.
Rather, Mischelle Moyer stepped up.
The Mayor is very clear on her decision. She wants to immediately release $250,000 of designated funding to the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center–the ONLY certified senior center in the city. It is City Council that is wavering on releasing the funds. We are well aware that the Heinz-Menaker Center is in dire need of funding before December 31; and the Mayor is displeased with this situation as well.
Ford advocated for the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center during the Nov. 26 meeting, saying he previously tried to talk to councilmembers about the issue without success.
Now here we are. Money has been made available, such that if the city were to reimburse me for COVID relief expenses, I could reimburse the food pantry, Ford said Wednesday. I could reimburse the water company, reimburse the electric company. We re out of the meager funds we had.
City council held its last legislative session of the year Tuesday night, during which there was no allocation to the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center.
The ARPA funding set aside for senior programming will not expire after Dec. 31 because it has been moved into the city s general fund, meaning city council could bring the matter up again in January.
Stories by
Jonathan Bergmueller
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