Submitted by the Mullis Community Senior Center.

The Mullis Community Senior Center is pleased to announce that we’ve been accepted into the 2023 County Fair Giving Campaign sponsored by the San Juan Island Community Foundation (SJICF). We applaud and appreciate the SJICF for their service to San Juan Island residents and service organizations.

The Mullis Center’s mission is to meet the recreational, intellectual, social, physical, and mental needs of seniors and disabled adults through advocacy, programs, and services so that people can live and age well on San Juan Island. To that end and to respond to the increasing need of accessible nutrition for SJI seniors, the Mullis Center will be raising funds during Fair Week for the Senior Nutrition Program – Meals on Wheels and More.

The Senior Nutrition Program helps to increase food security by providing nutritious home-delivered meals (Meals on Wheels) and friendly check-ins to homebound seniors three times a week, as well as onsite lunches at the Mullis Center on Mondays and Wednesdays where community members of all ages can socialize and enjoy a meal together. The program promotes nutrition, socialization, health, and well-being and for many it will delay the onset of adverse health conditions. A knock at the door by a Meals on Wheels volunteer might not seem like a big deal to many of us, but to a homebound senior it could signal the arrival of the only person they might see all day or all week long. It brings hope. It brings health.

It brings the nutrition and care that will completely make their day. A knock from a Meals on Wheels volunteer means nourishment for the body and soul. Meals are by donation for those age 60 plus and $8.50 for those under 60.

Contributions made to the Mullis Center via the 2023 County Fair Giving Campaign will help with the ever-rising operating costs it takes to house the Senior Nutrition Program. Over the course of the last year, the need for home-delivered and community meals on SJI has increased by over 30% and we expect the need to continue to grow as our island population continues to age in place at home. The Mullis Center’s operating costs associated with the program have also increased by about 30% this year.

During this year’s Giving Campaign, the first $1000 in donations will be matched dollar for dollar by the Community Foundation. Donations can be made during all four days of the Fair, from midnight on Aug. 16 through midnight on Aug 19. Donors can contribute in persona at the SJI Community Foundation fair booth, online at www.sjicf.org/fair, by phone to the SJICF at 360-378-1001, or by mailing a check payable to the SJICF (dated between Aug 17-20) with Mullis Center Senior Nutrition in the memo line to the Community Foundation, PO Box 1352, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.