Earleen Snider says there are two underlying reasons she and her husband, Carl, signed up for the new senior meals program in Baldwin City.

“He’s cheap, and I hate to cook,” she said. “This is perfect for us.”

The Sniders have made a weekday lunchtime commute from their Vinland Valley home to the site of Baldwin City’s Choosing Healthy Appetizing Meal Plan Solutions for Seniors since it started Jan. 4 at the cafeteria in Baker University’s Harter Student Union, 615 Dearborn St.

The 12-mile round trip that gets them out of the house and provides a respite from the winter blahs is another appeal, Earleen said.

“That’s a big thing for me,” she said. “I’m a retired realtor. I’m used to being on the go.”

Earleen, 70, said she and her husband, a 73-year-old career wildlife biologist who retired from a state position, enjoyed a comfortable retirement. Nonetheless, they do appreciate the program that allows them to get $3 daily meals at the cafeteria.

“We are in good shape financially,” she said. “We just don’t know how long our retirement is going to have to last.”

Jocelyn Lyons, executive director of the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging of Douglas, Jefferson and Shawnee counties, said the Sniders were two of 114 Baldwin City residents who signed up for the agency’s CHAMPSS program during three community orientation programs the past month.

“We were pleased with the turnout that was demonstrated in Baldwin City,” she said. “I was told we had a full room at all three orientation meetings at the library.”

The Jayhawk AAA program is available to those living in the agency’s service area of Douglas, Jefferson and Shawnee counties who are 60 years of age or older and their spouses. Participants are issued personalized CHAMPSS cards, which work like ATM cards and are good for dining at all designated meal sites in the three counties. Participants are asked to pay $3 per meal, which helps the Jayhawk AAA expand the program and cover its costs, but the agency will work with those unable to afford that amount, Lyons said.

The CHAMPSS program replaced the senior congregate meal sites in Douglas County, including the one that offered noon weekday meals in the Baldwin City Senior Center. The goal was to attract more seniors with the greater flexibility and choice the CHAMPSS program offers, Lyons said.

The Baker site offers breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays, said Jeff McCullough, general manager of Sodexo USA, which manages the Baker cafeteria. The cafeteria is open from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, he said.

The cafeteria has seen as few as eight CHAMPSS customers per day and as many as 13, McCullough said. He suspected cold temperatures and icy or damp conditions kept many cardholders at home.

“I don’t think you can have a true test with the weather as cold as it has been,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

The CHAMPSS program has sites in all three counties the Jayhawk AAA serves, Lyons said. Most are in grocery stores, with three Dillons and two Hy-Vee stores in Lawrence serving as CHAMPSS sites.

The Jayhawk AAA would like to add a site in Eudora to replace the congregate meal location that closed in that community, and agency staff members have met with owners and managers of restaurants in the community about the program, Lyons said.

“So far, nobody has stepped forward,” she said. “We have restaurant locations in Jefferson County that are very successful. Our participants said they liked going to them, because they liked supporting local businesses.”