Just as the town was putting together a plan to safely bring back its popular senior meal program at the Community Center, the state issued new guidelines barring all “congregate meal” sites and services, frustrating town officials who say the senior lunches are sorely missed and vital to many resident’s health.

On the plus side, Parks & Recreation Director Rick Maynard said he and his staff will have a reopening plan for the Community Center by the end of the week, with programming already happening as tai chi and oil painting classes run at a limited capacity in the building.

The lunches’ absence, however, will be noticed.

“Disappointing,” Maynard said. “Seniors actually called us crying, pretty much begging to be able to come back here for lunch. They just need that socialization.”

According to the new guidelines issued on Aug. 21, senior centers are allowed, but not required to reopen on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Maynard did not say whether Guilford would be able to offer full or partial services by that date, as he and other town officials sit down this week to go over the new guidelines.

But the loss of senior lunch was an unexpected blow, Maynard said, after he and other officials spent weeks putting together a plan that would allow contactless payment and social distancing in the Community Center’s spacious cafeteria, following the same principles that have allowed restaurants to open around the state.

“There are programs you can run,” Maynard said, citing allowances for things like bingo and fitness classes at senior centers. “[But] we can’t go against the governor’s guidelines.”

Maynard said that Guilford Health Director Dennis Johnson had affirmed the ban on lunches as important when dealing with high-risk populations like seniors.

Maynard said he still didn’t fully understand why so many other group activities were allowed, but not social lunches. Guilford’s cafeteria is much larger than many other towns, and Maynard said it was “frustrating” to deal with guidance that was “one size fits all” and not necessarily taking into account the specific spaces or resources of a place like Guilford.

While Guilford’s Meals on Wheels program has successfully shouldered a huge increase in food needs for the town’s seniors, Maynard said he hopes to bring them socialization through other programs.

“Many of these people are home by themselves, and this is an opportunity for them to get out and be with people. And I think that’s why some are getting stir crazy,” Maynard said. “They want to come here. This is like a second home for some of these people. They like being here.”

The town will move forward, though, evaluating which of the allowed game, art, or health programs are advisable, according to Maynard, putting together a brochure for a sort of soft opening possibly aimed at the middle of September.

The town will be able to offer transportation—probably no more than 10 people on a bus at a given time, though Maynard said that shouldn’t be a problem with the relatively small size of the programs.

The town has, however, had trouble fielding drivers, who are worried about working during the virus, Maynard said, but so far has been able to serve people who need to get to doctor’s appointments as well as transporting kids during summer camps.

Maynard said he hoped to get the word out about these programs as soon as possible, while still hoping that at some point the lunches will be allowed to return.

“It’s frustrating for everybody, because I think we could have a very well thought out way to do it and make it safe for people, but if we can’t do it, we can’t do it,” Maynard said.