Group dining offers seniors a chance to socialize affordably. Why is participation declining?

Dining with friends after a game of pickleball or during a lecture at your local senior center is a good way to spend part of the day.

Some 62 places in the six-county region served by AgeWays Nonprofit Senior Services — senior centers, community centers and senior living residences — offer group dining on-site. The meals are inexpensive — no more than $3 or $4 — and the social opportunities are priceless.

“Having the ability to go to a senior center keeps participants active, reduces mental illness related to isolation, gives a sense of purpose, and it’s cheap. Where are you going to get a full meal for $3 or $4? It’s budget-friendly,” says Angela Patten, program manager of nutrition services at AgeWays.

Congregate, or group dining, is funded by local, state and federal grants and participant and private donations.

You must be 60 or older to participate or be a spouse or partner under the age of 60 who accompanies an eligible adult. Donations to support the program are encouraged (but not required) in order to sustain the program. Despite the modest cost and a chance to get out of the house, group dining sites have seen a decline in participation.

The reasons range from staffing shortages to a lack of meal variety to a loss of community partners, according to a University of Michigan survey commissioned by AgeWays last fall.

Pre- and post-COVID dining

At one point, the Costick Activities Center in Farmington Hills hosted 80 seniors on weekdays who came for a meal and perhaps an activity. Today the number is closer to 60.

Numbers are down, partly because the grab-and-go meals begun during the COVID pandemic were discontinued, says Teresa Bryant, Costick’s nutrition services coordinator. Other factors include the loss of regular diners who didn’t return after the pandemic and the number of seniors who are working into their later years.

But Costick’s monthly Dine and Discover program — lunch and a lecture — brings in an average of 120 people who are willing to pay between $8 and $12, Bryant says.

“That’s one way we’ve tried to get more people in the building,” she says. “It’s a different group from those who come to our normal congregate lunch. On those days, we’re still offering our regular meals.” Daily lunch at the Costick is $3.50.

The Costick is offering a new monthly continental breakfast with a lecture to get more people in the door so they can see what else is going on at the center and perhaps stay for lunch, Bryant said.

Getting diners in the door

Macomb County’s congregate dining program, which counts 21 group dining sites, has been working on boosting participation by, among other things, moving sites to more convenient locations. For example, one site was shut down and another reopened in a senior housing community not too far from there.

“We do four times the business there,” says Nicole Urban, program manager at Macomb County’s Office of Senior Services.

She says her office is trying to locate a lunch program in the community center in Mount Clemens, partnering with Dial-a-Ride to provide transportation to seniors to and from the center. Changing the name of group or congregate dining to “Dining Senior Style” is also a bid to destigmatize the program so it is not seen as a service for low-income seniors, Urban said.

“‘Congregate dining’ sounds bureaucratic,” Urban says. The meals are open to anyone 60 and older, regardless of income.

Incentivizing group dining

Patten says other ideas include offering free meal vouchers or meal tickets to share with friends, expanding the restaurant voucher program, providing more food variety, and promoting the group dining program with better branding.

“We’re using the survey results to improve our programming, being more innovative in the way we are offering services. It’s time to give a facelift to the way the program is run,” she says.

To find a community dining program near you, visit ageways.org/services-and-seniors/community-dining-programs.

This content is provided by AgeWays Nonprofit Senior Services, a nonprofit that serves older adults and family caregivers in Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair and Washtenaw counties. We provide services, programs and resources that are designed to help seniors age safely and independently. Call us at 800-852-7795 to get connected.