By Krista Duhon

news@joplinglobe.com

COMMERCE, Okla. — The serving of hot meals to senior citizens in Commerce and Quapaw has been restored, thanks to the generosity of neighboring community leaders.

Members of the Picher Development Authority, with the support of Cardin leaders, voted recently to help the Delaware, Ottawa, Craig Senior Services (DOCS) program to sustain hot meal provisions through a large part of 2010 by contributing $65,000 to the senior nutrition program, according to Picher City Attorney Erik Johnson.

Meals are served to nearly 60 senior citizens five days a week from the community room of the Picher Housing Authority. Additional meals are delivered from the site to homebound residents.

“I give the credit to Mayor Tim Reeves, who led the effort,” Johnson said. “He proposed it to the authority and they all agreed to use PDA funds to help continue the meal service. Many of those seniors who are provided meals through DOCS were once Picher or Cardin residents who relocated to Commerce and Quapaw.”

Johnson said the public funds were mostly generated through the sale of chat, and that the authority members were happy to provide the financial support as the cities of Picher and Cardin prepare to close in the wake of a federally funded effort to relocate residents of the former mining communities.

DOCS received word from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in late September that state funding for the program would be cut 30 percent, a loss of about $116,000 for the program that puts hot meals in the hands of senior citizens five days a week, according to Rick Teal, who oversees the DOCS program.

Last month, Teal said his heart was heavy as he delivered the news of the cutbacks to the Commerce community. In a telephone interview Friday, Teal said he was happy to report that meal service is continuing in Commerce and expressed his appreciation of the efforts that made it possible.

Johnson said the authority hopes to provide an additional $65,000 to cover the DOCS shortfall, and is seeking assistance from public and private sectors to make that happen.

“They want to leave a positive legacy,” Johnson said. “It seems that everything that is publicized about the Picher community is negative. This is something that can be remembered as a positive thing the community did in its final days.”