In the southwest reaches of Kansas, populations of entire counties can be fewer than small cities — like Meade County, where less than 4,000 people reside. As many Kansans know, a small population doesn’t equate to small impacts. In fact, communities like Fowler, Meade and Plains take “small” as a compliment. In these communities, impacts are made on the people who need them most, and in Meade County, the county Farm Bureau’s Silver Plate Project addresses food insecurity among their senior citizens.

“Our board of directors knew they wanted to support this specific population of our county because not only is it a worthwhile sector, it’s also a large part of our membership delegation in Meade County,” Leann Krier, Meade County Farm Bureau coordinator, says. “The members of the board felt like it was a good way to support the people who are supporting them.”

Through Kansas Farm Bureau’s End Hunger program, county Farm Bureaus can request funding for localized food insecurity programs throughout the state. The board had a direction to go and a grant opportunity in the windshield. Meade County Farm Bureau applied and received funding to support the county’s three senior centers — the Beam Senior Center in Meade, the Fowler Senior Center and the Plains Senior Center.

“Our seniors are sometimes an overlooked section of society when considering food insecurity,” Krier says. “They aren’t any less deserving, of course, so this was our way of providing a direct line of support to our senior centers to fill the gap we were seeing.”

A TIKTOK IDEA, A CHICKEN AND DUMPLING DELIVERY

As part of the End Hunger grant, an element of agriculture education is required. That’s when an idea came to Krier.

“It just kind of came to me as I was looking at the grant application that I remembered these meals-in-a-bag videos I’d see on TikTok,” she says. “I thought that would be a fantastic way for patrons to take home a quick easy meal, so we decided to go ahead and do that as part of the End Hunger grant.”

The meal Meade County Farm Bureau put into bags was for chicken and dumplings with shelf-stable ingredients. The meal kit included two cans of chunk chicken breast, evaporated milk, a can of cream of chicken, chicken bouillon for flavoring, a can of mixed vegetables, a can of diced potatoes and a box of Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix. Also included in the bags was a flyer with the recipe on one side and the other side had information about the Silver Plate Program, End Hunger and a list of the county’s senior centers and food banks.

"The meal-in-a-bag kit offers more than just a meal; it empowers seniors to prepare nutritious meals independently, enhancing food literacy by focusing on easy, healthy and small-scale preparation,” Krier says. “Additionally, it highlights the significance of agriculture in our county and beyond."

COMPASSION MEETS COMMUNITY

Each of the senior centers received these meal-in-a-bag kits plus a monetary donation as part of the End Hunger grant after Krier worked with the senior center directors to gauge their needs and to ensure the project would benefit the centers’ clients. Brenda Harris, the director of the Beam Center, is new to the position, but after she lost her husband in 2024, she saw the opportunity as a blessing.

“The position came up almost exactly a year to the date of my husband’s passing,” Harris says. “They offered it to me and I said, ‘yes, no, yes, no, yes, no.’ But ultimately, I’m a people person — I love our elderly, and I love children because they need voices, and I feel like I’m an advocate for them. The timing seemed to be a sign, too.”

After a conversation and an intention of providing a simple monetary donation, Krier realized the senior centers across the county weren’t all serving meals consistently. The Fowler Senior Center, for instance, has a potluck every month.

“When Leann reached out to me, she said she had this idea of pre-designed meals and initially we thought since we were already doing potlucks that maybe there wasn’t a need,” Terry Milford, president of the Fowler Senior Center board of directors, says. “But we would never turn down such a generous donation. It went over awesome when we handed them out in June.”

RURAL ROUTES, LONG CONVERSATIONS

In places like Meade County, where depending on where you live, services like a grocery store or the closest senior center can mean several miles on the road. Some senior centers still provide meal delivery services, but for some seniors in Meade County, they can travel up to 40 miles to get their groceries.

“It’s an issue for some being a little more remote, but our senior centers offer valuable services and a welcoming social environment,” Krier says.

The Beam Center in Meade sees up to 400 people in a month, many of them coming for a meal or another service provided by the senior center, but mostly for friendly conversation. They have affectionately earned the nickname, Beam Buddies, from Harris.

“A lot of times after meals, our Beam Buddies will stick around and talk,” Harris says. “It’s good because a lot of them are home alone. The majority are widowers. Some say they don’t even come for the food; they come for the fellowship. This is kind of our own support group here. It’s a place for them to go — to fit in, laugh, talk. Even though they’re aging, they’re not old.”

At the Fowler Center, Milford says the Silver Plate Project helps show they aren’t alone.

“I think this project encourages and inspires people to know they’re not forgotten, and they’re not swept under the rug or pushed to a corner and forgotten,” he says.

“They appreciate what Meade County Farm Bureau did and what the program did,” Harris says of the impact the Silver Plate Project had at the Beam Center. “It means a lot and they loved being thought of.”

It’s really all a connection of love toward each other that makes projects and programs like these successful. The Meade County Farm Bureau understands the importance of caring for its neighbors. Milford’s father loves playing Bingo at the Fowler Senior Center — which is what brought him to serve in the board capacity — and Harris’s loss of her husband connected her to many of the seniors she serves.

“Being a widow myself, this role has been a great support for me,” Harris says. “Many of us are in the same boat with our experience of grief. But this is who I am, I love to be kind.”

Small doesn’t equal no impact. In fact, small acts are often the most significant connectors. Now to become a Beam Buddy.

To learn more about the senior centers, visit their Facebook pages.

Beam Center in Meade
Fowler Senior Center
No website or Facebook page available for the Plains Senior Center

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