It was a Wednesday – spaghetti day – at the Shoshoni Senior Center.
Pods of people chatted and sipped coffee at long rectangular tables as they waited for lunch. Doreen Freeman and her husband Carl sat together by the juice machine.
“We usually come down every day,” she said. “It's open five days a week, and it's very helpful for us elderly people to have a place to come and visit and a meal every day.”
The center is often the most happening place in town most days, offering the only regular hot meal and serving lunches that are open to all. With a population of less than 500 people, according to the 2020 Census, Shoshoni is definitely a small town. There’s one gas station on the corner and a lot of boarded-up businesses.
So the center has become the town’s hub – and it’s not just for seniors.
It’s also the polling site, the food pantry and the source of a monthly newsletter. It’s the spot for weddings, memorials, game nights and AA meetings. There’s a community garden out back, with tomatoes and lettuce, and flowers in raised beds. It even hosts the town’s haunted house in the basement every Halloween.
But there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future of these kinds of centers, as the Trump administration and Congress consider how to fund the Older Americans Act and other sources of funding fluctuate.
For folks like the Freemans, the center losing some of its programming could impact food access, transportation, physical fitness and a strong social defense against isolation.
The couple lives in an apartment down the street and have called Shoshoni home for about 63 years.
The two have been married even longer. They first met in Montana, when Doreen was in high school and Carl was working in the oil fields.
“ My girlfriend and I were just getting ready to cross the street, and they drove by and honked at us and they came around the block and asked us if we wanted to ride,” said Doreen. “So he more or less picked me up on the street corner, and we have been happy for 65 years, so I'm sure it worked good!”
Doreen said the Shoshoni Senior Center has a lot going for it.
“ They always have a puzzle going here and I love puzzles,” she said. “In the other room they have a library and I'll do a lot of reading and we don't have to check [the books] out. We just take what we want and bring them back when we're done.”
“ Then we have exercise equipment too, which is good for us,” added Carl.
The two say if the center didn’t exist, people would probably just stay at home.
“There’s nothing else in Shoshoni other than a convenience store,” said Doreen.
“We’d be bound to our apartment all the time or driving on the road, and that wouldn't be smart,” said Carl.
Centers like these already run on tight margins. But recent shakeups in funding are creating big concerns for the two people steering the ship at the Shoshoni Senior Center.
That’s director Rykki Neale and assistant director Jeannie Kronke. Neale is the behind-the-scenes introvert, tapping away at her computer in the back office, and Kronke’s the up-front extrovert, running the kitchen, daily activities and all things social.
“ What if we lost this? Where would they go and what would they do? A lot of them can't get to Riverton. We are the only transportation for some of them,” said Kronke.
The center takes people to towns like Riverton, Casper, Thermopolis and Lander for doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping or just a change of scenery. Kronke said they’re struggling to find a permanent bus driver, but board member and past Shoshoni mayor Jay Merritt is volunteering to drive people in the meantime.
“ Some of 'em have said this will be their only meal that they get,” said Kronke. “If it wasn't for us, they wouldn't eat.”
Neale says about 75% of the center’s money comes from the federal Older Americans Act, which is administered through the Wyoming Department of Health’s Aging Division. The center runs three programs under the act, two of which are food-related.
The act itself is under the Department of Health and Human Services, which the Trump administration reorganized this spring. The change brought up a bunch of questions and concerns about program funding.
“ Right now, it's looking like those [Older Americans Act programs] will be level funded, which sounds great, but we have a rapidly-aging population, so the need is increasing,” said Neale.
That’s not the only thing in flux. Neale says funding to the Shoshoni Senior Citizens Service District will likely decrease because of cuts to property taxes lawmakers approved earlier this year. The center leases the building from the town of Shoshoni for free but doesn’t receive any additional support from the town itself. The center also receives state funding through the Wyoming Senior Services Board.
The center recently started partnering with distributor Shamrock Foods out of Billings, Montana, to figure out how to continue to provide nutritious meals on a shoestring budget.
“ Everybody's kind of on edge about what might happen [with cuts],” said Shamrock Foods’ Patty Crampton. “But we can't let those kinds of things deter what our goals are for our local senior centers. Our goal is to be able to provide a sustainable meal at a reasonable cost that's affordable.”
Neale added it’s also become more difficult to fundraise in a small town, with less and less businesses to ask for support.
“All of the sources of income are going down, so we're constantly being asked to do more with less,” she said.
Less and less is something Shoshoni’s seen more and more of in recent years. Center regular Lois Herbst is deeply familiar with the ebbs and flows of the town.
“ There used to be stores all along each side of the street out there,” she said. “They're all gone. Now there’s a malt shop open a few hours a day. I haven't tried it yet, but I will.”
Herbst is such a staple at the center that she even has her own parking spot. She’s been in Shoshoni for almost 70 years.
“ I come here to talk to people because I live alone and my neighbors are busy ranch people,” she said.
Herbst is a long-time advocate for ranchers and private property rights. She was appointed to the Wyoming Beef Council and is also the first and only woman to be elected president of the state’s Stock Growers Association back in 2005.
“Somebody said, ‘How did you do it?’ Well, I wrote an application. I filled out the application and told them why I was capable of doing it,” she said.
Herbst was also inducted into the Wyoming Business Hall of Fame in 2017.
“Talking really is good medicine for an old person, and I am 92,” she said. “You gain from friendship with other people. You've known that all your life. You didn't go to school and hide in a corner. You went out and made friends.”
When it comes to possible funding cuts to senior centers like Shoshoni’s, Herbst had this to say.
“ I can't see why they would start with something that the oldest group appreciates and we're the ones that have built this country,” she said.
Congress needs to hash out the federal budget, including funding for programs like the Older Americans Act, before the end of September to avoid a government shutdown.
