Adult Center: best and most affordable lunches in township

by Dan McClelland

If you are 60 years of age and older, you won’t find a better lunch in town than at the Adirondack Adult Center on Demars Blvd. -And lunch cost is only a donation of $2, if the diner is able.

The homemade lunches are the best, regular patrons have been telling us for years. At their invitation we paid the place a visit earlier this month to interview some of the local folks who love the place.

Mona Sapone, one of the regulars, was helping cut up fruit with Assistant Cook Debbie Nadeau in the kitchen before lunch that morning. Mona, the volunteer, does what they need her to, as we watched her mill about the dining room and kitchen.

On that day’s menu was Teriyaki grilled chicken, served over brown rice with stir fried vegetable. It smelled wonderful. Toss in a chocolate chip cookie for dessert- and lunch was complete.

Other great lunches on the menu last week were a turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, a steak and cheese sub and spaghetti with meat sauce.

Today, chicken and dumplings was the main fare.

The star of the place is Cook Sally White, and there was a consensus among the 15 or so diners who were the first to arrive that Sally’s cooking is the best. She apparently goes all out for her patrons.

Sally’s kitchen is also the base of the adult center’s meals on wheels program, which is run by Adirondack Adult Center Director Stacey Button.

On the day of our visit 46 lunches left for houses and apartments around Tupper Lake, shuttled by a team of loyal volunteers. There were six drivers that day. Some seniors find it hard to get out, particularly in the cold and snow of winter. Other meals on wheels recipients just like the convenient service.

The meal deliverers make it a point to step inside every residence, to make sure everything is okay. Leaving the meal on the doorstep isn’t allowed.

For many the visit might be the only person they see that day- so for them it’s a life line.

Some of the local volunteer drivers and other helpers here are Scott Shannon, Patty Nichols, Ron Stone, Jenn Bradley, Jason Rolley, Mary Richer, Amanda Farnsworth, Joe and Lisa Kimpflen, Ann and Rudy Gibbs, Patty Flag, Mike Larabie, Kay Pauquette and Tammy Roshia, plus some Sunmount folks and their care-givers.

The meal at the center begins at noon and is over when all are fed, explains Stacy.

After lunch some days there’s a speaker, who talk on a variety of interesting topics.

Last Tuesday, the featured speaker was Pete Gilbert, a highly active Civil War re-enactor here.

Bobbie Newman, who operated the Tupper Lake Motel with her husband Al here for years, calls the place “her second home.” She said she loved the people and the hospitality, always dished out in heaping portions.

Bobbie, a long time resident of Lake Simond, is the unofficial photographer, snapping photos of everyone and anyone. Many of her prints hang on the bulletin.

At 93 Bobbie still pretty handy on the computer- and she sometimes operates the one there, printing out materials for the patrons. The place could use a new computer, so if anyone here has a good one they are not using, the center would like it. She’s the center’s historian and uses the computer there in her work.

“If someone donated a computer to us that would be wonderful,” Stacy told the Free Press.

Bobbie, who will be 91 this May, sent us a couple of photos included with this story.

Of Sally, Bobbie figures she’s the best cook in the county’s entire nutrition program which covers about 15 or 16 town centers. Mona shakes her head in agreement.

Bruce Cooke has the shortest distance to the center of any of the patrons. He lives two doors down. He’s a newcomer at just several weeks, and he gave us a double thumbs up on the meals.

While the meals are great, there are no special requests. All the meals are set by day by the county’s office for the aging in Malone. The meal products are sent to each center for the cooking staff to prepare.

A familiar face at the center that day was former center director, Ray Bigrow and his girl friend Rose Marie Lang. They were both hungry and looking forward to lunch.

Ray, even after his retirement this past year, continues to be an active volunteer at the center.

Says Ray, “the companionship here is wonderful. If someone is not here, we actually get worried about them.”

He remembers that before COVID there would often be 25 people for lunch at the center. Meals at the center were adjourned for the most part during the pandemic, and the focus moved to bringing food to the homes of the elderly, particularly those worried about their exposure to the virus.

During the COVID years it was not unusual to transport over 75 meals to Tupper Lake people at home. Occasionally the delivery list would hit 100 a day.

He said that while there isn’t a formal check- on-a-person system in place, it’s done informally by friends. “Mona was missing one day, so I went to her home to see if she was okay, which she was.”

In order to reserve a lunch, patrons of the place have to make a reservation by 9:30a.m.- so the kitchen staff knows how many lunches to prepare. Reservations can be made the day before or for a week at a time, Stacey noted.

On the day of our visit, there were about 20 diners. On a recent volunteer appreciation lunch there were over 50 for lunch.

Bob Woods, one of the regulars as is his wife, Betty, had a big grin that morning. Bob is a great story-teller and his stories of living his entire life here, with the exception of military service are often part of the lunch fodder.

“I like it all...I like the food, I like the companionship!”

Bob and Betty were active volunteers at the Wild Center for years.

Betty admitted she likes not having to prepare Bob’s lunch every day.

Some times seniors here take in a daily swim at the Sunmount pool, where they work up an appetite for lunch.

Lenny Indellicati from Piercefield is another regular. He said he likes the low $2 donation price for a great lunch.

What would they be serving in Piercefield today, if the center wasn’t offering lunches? “Not much,” Lenny smirks.

Retired Tupper Lake Baptist Chapel Minister Rick Wilburn and his wife, Judy, enjoy some of their lunch-time meals at the center.

Sometimes the Rev. Rick says Grace. Others like Mona share that duty.

“I think it’s great for the community and its seniors,” noted Mr. Wilburn. He also applauded the paid staffers and the volunteers who help keep the entire program running smoothly. “They treat us very well!”

The diners vary in how many days they come for lunch. Bobbi Newman says she attends three times a week. Some people come once a week, while others are there every day.

The consensus of the diners last Monday was the program is both vital and enjoyable for the seniors of Tupper Lake- both the meals enjoyed at the center and those who get them at home. And several shouted: “Sally is the best!”

And Director Stacey is also very well liked and respected. It’s commonplace for her to help in the kitchen or with other lunchtime chores there.

She said she would like to see more people come to the center for their lunches and for the friendships made there. It’s indeed a special place!