At left: Members of the Wawatam Area Senior Citizens board include Lorahdelle Darrow (left), secretary and treasurer, Martha Darrow, president, and Kay Williams (sitting). The seniors group recently moved back into the Lion Dan Russell Building, where it offers senior citizens meals. When the Wawatam Area Senior Citizens signed a five-year lease with the Mackinaw City Lions Club in January to use the Lion Dan Russell Building on Cedar Street at a cost of $1 per year, it opened the door to hold dinners, clinics, entertainment, and educational programs for seniors in the building, which it had previously used for the better part of 30 years.

The group has also hired cook Dale Houle of Cheboygan to prepare meals for senior citizens three days a week during April, increasing to five days a week in May and continuing through the fall. Secretary and treasurer Lorahdelle Darrow said an increase in attendance is expected next month, owing to seasonal residents returning for the summer.

"In the summer there will be a lot more, and we'll have a lot more volunteers, too," she said.

Meals in April are on Tuesdays and Fridays at 5:30 p.m., and on Sundays at 1 p.m. Beginning in May, meals will be offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 5:30 p.m., and on Sundays at 1 p.m. Meals will cost $3 for those 60 and older, and $5 for those younger than 60. The Lions Club, which owns the building, uses the facility on Wednesdays for its meetings.

In addition to the meal service, the senior citizens group is working to schedule foot care, hearing, and visual screening clinics once a month for area seniors, and hopes to raise enough money through donations to purchase video and electronic gaming equipment for entertainment.

The seniors group is funded through a membership and dues structure, as well as through appropriations from Emmet and Cheboygan counties. Members pay a $5 membership fee once a year.

The group, formerly known as Mackinaw Seniors, used to hold its meetings and dinners in the Russell Building between 1976 and 2005, before being moving to the Ramada Inn by the Cheboygan County Council on Aging, said group president Martha Darrow. The group was moved to the Ramada Inn in Mackinaw City, now Cedarbrook Village, as a money saving effort, she said.

The group's belongings, including kitchen appliances, were also moved to the motel. The group held meetings and dinners there for three years.

The Russell Building was left empty and unused for three years, Martha Darrow said, and with no appliances to cook with, the Lions Club held its meetings at restaurants. She said her organization and the Lions Club both wanted to have the seniors group back in the Russell Building. The seniors group had to break its affiliation with the Council on Aging and reformed as the Wawatam Area Senior Citizens group to do so.

The seniors group didn't fully move back into the building until late last month after its belongings were returned and some repairs were made to the building, including work to the roof, floors, and painting the interior, as well as to some of the returned appliances. The total cost of repairs and renovations was $5,600, which was paid for by Emmet County, Lorahdelle Darrow said.

To celebrate its return to the Russell Building, the seniors group served turkey dinners to about 35 people Sunday, March 29. Attendance the following Sunday increased to more than 60 people.

Martha Darrow said she is glad to back in the Russell Building.

"We wanted to be back out here and the Lions Club wanted us back out here, too. They did everything to get us back here and get the place fixed, and here we are."