Tualatin City Council last month committed $40,000 to continue providing lunches two days a week at the Juanita Pohl Center after its longtime provider, Meals on Wheels People (MOWP), announced in April of this year it was pulling the service.
MOWP is eliminating “congregate” meals from some area community centers to consolidate operations into four locations and focus more heavily on home deliveries.
Pohl Center supervisor Sara Shepherd told City Councilors that keeping lunch on the table is the immediate priority, but expanding the program with more days and additional activities is the long-range goal.
Meal service, currently offered on two weekdays, transitioned from MOWP to the Pohl Center on July 1.
“We wanted no interruption to the current level of service,” Shepherd said. “We wanted to continue to offer a meal at least twice a week.”
Shepherd and Tualatin Recreation Manager Julie Ludeman detailed the program’s history and presented a proposal for continuing MOWP’s work during a June 9 City Council work session. Council unanimously approved the funding request at a subsequent meeting later that month.
The lunch program was originally launched in 1982 by Loaves and Fishes at what was then the Tualatin Durham Senior Center.
Program staffing shifted in 2012 from MOWP to the City of Tualatin, with the non-profit continuing to provide nutrition services.
At its peak, the heavily resourced program employed a full-time nutrition manager and 15-20 volunteers, who served lunches Monday through Friday to about 35 people, totaling approximately 175 meals each week. Additionally, it delivered meals to more than 40 homebound clients.
MOWP also published a monthly newsletter and daily menus. The city bolstered the program with special holiday meals and activities centered around the lunch hour to strengthen connections.
“(That was) all pre-COVID, so 2020 and prior,” Shepherd said. “Meals on Wheels People’s level of service was pretty inclusive.”
Post-COVID, the focus shifted from lunches served in the community at the Pohl Center to increased meal delivery.
By 2025, the program had withered.
Its sole employee was reduced from working full-time to just 6 hours per week. Meal service had dwindled to 27 in-home clients and about 16 meals a week at the center. Gone were the newsletters, menus, special meals, and lunch hour activities.
“(Presently) we’re down to about four to six volunteers or less a day. They serve congregate lunch two days a week,” Shepherd said, referring to meals served at the Pohl Center.
Shepherd said that while multiple models are under consideration, staffers prioritized preserving lunches at the center because communal meals provide substantial social and emotional benefits.
That option, modeled after a meal program in Sherwood, would include 1.5 full-time employees and the establishment of a non-profit, as the Pohl Center seeks alternative funding.
The city plans to have congregate meals catered rather than preparing lunches in-house.
“We’d like to increase congregate meal participation (in the future) and get back to our pre-COVID numbers or larger, and expand drop-in and social activities around the lunch hour to continue to build on the success of the vibrant JPC community,” Shepard said.
Seniors can also opt to receive a MOWP Diners Club Card, which provides them with 10 free monthly meals at three participating metro-area restaurants, including Las 4 Lunas Mexican Food in Tualatin.
While Shepherd initially said the program called for charging clients $5 per meal to help offset costs, Council members requested replacing the fee with a suggested donation to ensure accessibility for low-income recipients.
“We’re looking at ways to recover costs and provide a program that’s affordable and sustainable long term,” Shepherd said.
Recovering $5 per meal would generate about $10,000 annually.
Plans also include developing sponsorships that will provide partial funding.
City Council can make adjustments of up to 10 percent to an approved city budget. In addition to approved meal funding, it allocated additional funding to the library budget for promotional and rebranding items, including a new Mastodon mascot.
The additional expenditure brings the city’s total 2025-26 budget, initially approved in May, to $165,489,430.
For more information, to view menus, or to make a lunch reservation, visit tinyurl.com/2t2ksu6z or call 503-691-3061.
