The Sparks Senior Center, which is still struggling to find enough money to pay its power bill, will received its share of $126,561 in federal stimulus funds to pay for lunch programs at the center.

“The feds are very specific about that (stimulus) money,” Washoe County Senior Services director Grady Tarbutton said Wednesday. “There is no operating money (in that grant) at all.”

The Washoe County Senior Services department needs to carve $500,000 out of next year’s budget, and it has long been rumored that the Sparks center, located at 97 Richards Way, may fall victim to those cuts.

In August, Tarbutton said “nothing was off the table” as far as cuts.

However, on Wednesday, the senior services director said he hoped the stimulus money would underline his main premise: that the Sparks center is used by many seniors.

Currently, the lunch programs deliver meals to about 500 seniors each day.

The meals grant, provided through Nevada’s Aging and Disability Service Division, will provide meals to 15,000 additional seniors annually. However, the county must pull $22,337 out of its ad valorum funds as a match in order to receive the meals grant.

It will also allow the Neil Road Senior Center in Reno to start serving lunch, a service they formerly could not provide.

“It is one of those services that can keep people living (independently) in their own homes,” Tarbutton said of the meals delivery program.

With the grant, the number served can increase dramatically, he added.

“We want people to contact us about meals,” Tarbutton said, adding that the money must be spent on the meals before June 30, 2010.

Those interested in the meals delivery program can call 328-2575 for more information or to enroll.

The Sparks center was facing closure in March when Washoe County was making cuts to its fiscal year 2010 budget. However, the county gleaned money from its ending fund balance to keep the center open for the next fiscal year.

About $140,000 per year is necessary to keep the facility operating.

On average, about 150 seniors come through the center’s doors on a daily basis, according to center administration BJ Hartman. Hartman is the center’s one full-time employee. Washoe County also employs a part-time maintenance worker at the facility, which is otherwise run by volunteers.

According to Hartman, about 30 people come for the daily lunch. About half the cost of a meal for the seniors is paid by the state of Nevada, according to Tarbutton.

The center has been open since 1990.

The Sparks Senior Center provides activities, meals, educational classes and a distribution center for the Food Bank and Assistance League’s food pantry, among other activities.

“All of those services are critical for the community,” Tarbutton said.