The De Soto Senior Center will stop offering dine-in meals and close the facility at the end of the year.
“Unfortunately, we’re unable to continue supporting our De Soto location as a congregate meal site because of low participation rates,” said Lisa Knoll, chief executive officer of Aging Ahead, which oversees the De Soto Senior Center at 221 S. Third St. “This has been an ongoing issue there since well before the pandemic.”
Meals had been served there Monday through Friday, with five to six people eating there each day, Knoll said.
Knoll said the last day for congregate dining in De Soto will be Dec. 31, but Meals on Wheels services will continue.
She said between 60 and 70 people receive home-delivered meals on Monday through Friday.
“We will continue to deliver Meals on Wheels to the eligible homebound in that area and will have another staff person regularly visit the site (De Soto Central Apartments) to assist with information and resources for individuals who have those needs.”
Knoll said the meal delivery will be coordinated from the House Springs Senior Center but she is not sure where volunteer drivers will pick up the meals for the De Soto area, adding that some meals will be frozen and some will be hot.
Aging Ahead, one of 10 Area Agencies on Aging in Missouri, has been providing supportive services in Jefferson, St. Louis, Franklin and St. Charles counties since 1973.
Knoll said it operates other sites in Jefferson County, including ones in Crystal City, Arnold and House Springs.
The De Soto Senior Center originally was housed in the old De Soto Elementary building for 10 years. It then moved to Jefferson Square on Hwy. 21 for 10 years. The center operated at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 13255 Hwy. E, for 12 years before moving downtown in January 2020.
The center currently rents the ground floor of the De Soto Central Senior Apartments building, a three-story brick structure that originally housed De Soto High School.
Aging Ahead is ending its lease with De Soto Central Senior Apartments at the end of the year, and the ground floor will revert back to being community space for residents, according to De Soto Central Apartments staff. The upper two floors house 43 apartment units for seniors.