The paint barely dry on their freshly decorated meeting building on Cedar Street, Wawatam Area Senior Citizens have begun moving toward delivering Meals on Wheels to a score of people in and around Mackinaw City's four surrounding townships.

At a meeting Friday, December 19, seniors heard Mackinaw City Village Manager Jeff Lawson explain that "the first year of this will be real conservative, and maybe after that we can go back to the counties and get some more funding."

Appropriations for the program come from Emmet and Cheboygan counties.

Deliveries from the facility, known as the Lion Dan Russell building, which the seniors lease from the Lions Club of Mackinaw City for $1 a year, won't start until March, and perhaps even late,r when new kitchen equipment is installed.

The Mackinaw City seniors are looking to take over the Meals on Wheels preparation and delivery job from Petoskey's Friendship Center, if that turns out to be the "most cost effective way to do it," said Mr. Lawson.

It may turn out to be cheaper, he said, to continue to have the meals prepared in Petoskey, then shipped to the Mackinaw City center for delivery.

"At this point," Mr. Lawson said, "we just don't know. The situation is evolving."

Deliveries would be made to four townships, Wawatam, Carp Lake, and Bliss in Emmet County and Mackinaw in Cheboygan County.