WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — For the first time in 15 years, Wake County’s Meals on Wheels opened a new Friendship Café. The cafes act as pop-up senior centers in areas where there might not be as many resources for older adults.

What You Need To Know

  • For the first time in 15 years, Wake Co. Meals on Wheels opened a new Friendship Café

  • The cafes act as pop-up senior centers in areas where there might not be as many resources for older adults

  • Wake County now has nine Friendship Cafés and the services are free for anyone who is at least 60 years old

Some of the programming offered to seniors at Friendship Cafés in Wake County include games to keep your mind sharp, hot meals to nourish your body and even a chair yoga class.

“One of the main activities is bingo. Everybody loves bingo,” Zulla Toney, who is enrolled in Friendship Café, said. “We do a lot of walking too. We walk outside and we walk inside. The great thing is we have a member that is 92 and she leads the walking class so we have to keep up with her.”

Toney is in her 70s and lives in Maryland now but she grew up in Apex. Toney’s mom, Ada Farrar, turns 98 in November and still lives in the area.

“I have two brothers and one sister so the girls will team up and the boys will team up and we will come down and do our caretaking with her and we found out about this place had opened up,” Toney said.

A new Meals on Wheels Friendship Café opened at the start of October at White Oak Baptist Church.

“We are able to come in at lunch and get a nice hot meal and communicate and talk to our friends and make new friends,” Toney said.

Toney says, before this, seniors in this rural area didn’t have a lot to do.

“Pretty much for activities there weren’t very many. Nothing that was formulated like this and organized."

The cafe also offers classes, including information on healthy eating habits and how to recognize signs of depression.

“A lot of times people are alone and they eat alone and they live alone,” Toney said.

However, Toney says places like Friendship Cafés can help older adults feel less lonely.

“If we didn’t have this advantage here some of us would never get outside to do any exercise or to mingle with the other folk and try and stay as healthy as we can,” Toney said.

Because no matter your age, everyone is looking for a place to connect with others, learn new things and feel like they matter.

“So it’s just been a great experience and it’s been something that the community needs and we’re glad it’s here and we wish that there were more,” Toney said.

Wake County now has nine Friendship Cafés and they’re open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. All of the services at the cafes are free for anyone who is at least 60 years old.

Wake County Meals on Wheels is planning to open a new Friendship Café at the Rosenwald School at the start of the new year.