Idaho Gives spotlights Kootenai County Meals on Wheels and nonprofits

A hot meal in the driveway, a wellness check at the door and a volunteer’s time are what keep many older Kootenai County residents going, and Idaho Gives is now asking donors to help pay for that unseen work.

The statewide campaign opened May 4 and runs through May 7, with donations accepted through May 10. Backed by the Idaho Community Foundation and powered by ICCU, Idaho Gives is highlighting about 110 North Idaho nonprofits, including Lake City Center and Panhandle Special Needs Inc., two organizations that help fill gaps the market and government do not fully cover.

At Lake City Center, Harriet and Tom Dillon spend Fridays maintaining one of 17 Meals on Wheels routes in Kootenai County. The work goes beyond dropping off lunch. It also means checking on seniors, talking with them and making sure they are okay. Tom Dillon said some seniors do not eat unless meals are delivered, a reminder that the service is often a lifeline rather than a convenience.

Lake City Center says its Meals on Wheels program serves qualifying people age 60 and older who are frail or homebound. The organization serves an average of more than 260 clients and coordinates about 5,000 meals each month for seniors in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Huetter, Hauser and Dalton Gardens. Deliveries go to Post Falls, Hauser and Huetter on Mondays and to Coeur d’Alene, Dalton Gardens and Hayden on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The service depends heavily on volunteers. Lake City Center says congregate meals generate roughly 200 to 220 volunteer hours a month, while Meals on Wheels adds another 190 to 200 hours monthly. Executive Director Nancy Phillips has said the mission is to provide meals, social connection and supportive services so seniors can remain independent as long as possible. If fundraising falls short, the pressure lands quickly on meal delivery, wellness checks and the effort to keep isolated seniors from slipping through the cracks.

Idaho Gives is also turning attention to Panhandle Special Needs, or PSNI, which serves people with disabilities in Bonner and Boundary counties and part of Kootenai County, stretching as far as Athol. PSNI says it has been serving people with disabilities for more than 40 years and is the only adult developmental disability services agency in Bonner and Boundary counties. Executive Director Trinity Nicholson said the group serves about 200 people a year through life-skills training, adult day health, employment and other support, and has a waitlist of roughly 40 people.

The stakes are even higher for PSNI’s future home at 1407 N. Boyer. The organization says it needs nearly $6 million to develop the site after its lease was not renewed, even after purchasing the land with help from donors and the Thurlow estate. PSNI is also tying the campaign to practical fundraisers, including a plant sale from its greenhouse on May 5 and a restaurant takeover at Smokesmith Bar-B-Que on May 7.

For Kootenai County, Idaho Gives is more than a fundraising drive. It is a public measure of how much local seniors and people with disabilities depend on nonprofit labor, volunteer hours and private dollars to keep daily life stable.