Cold Meals, Warm Disrespect: Washoe County Manager Leaves Low-Income Seniors Out in the Cold—Literally

The meals that are supposed to be served to seniors. On Monday, April 21st the Chicken Cordon Bleu was replaced with a small salad. Why, no kitchen to prepare a warm meal. Why would Washoe County release their temporary kitchen until the remodeled 9th Street Senior Center was reopened.

Well, it’s happened again. Washoe County Manager Eric Brown has decided that low-income seniors deserve less than dignity—and apparently, less than a warm meal.

Seniors enrolled in the federal meal program, many of whom rely on these daily lunches as their primary source of nutrition, are now being served cold meals. Why? Because the temporary kitchen that had been used to prepare hot meals while the senior center undergoes remodeling has mysteriously been released. That’s right—Brown let it go. No more hot entrees. Just plastic-wrapped sandwiches and a big middle finger to the elderly.

And here’s the kicker: the county’s own website, via the Senior Nutrition Daily Meal Monthly Calendar, still claims the third-party vendor is serving up hot meals. You read that right—while Grandma’s eating another turkey sandwich that tastes like regret and refrigerator air, the website is serving up fiction.

You’d think this was just a clerical error, but it smells more like good old-fashioned neglect. A bureaucratic “oops” that just happens to affect the most vulnerable people in the county. Again.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the exquisite irony here: County Manager Eric Brown is himself a senior. Yes, the man responsible for this mess is old enough to be on the receiving end of the very services he's stripping down to cold cuts and carrot sticks. You’d think he might have a little empathy—or at least the self-preservation instincts to not throw his own age group under the bus.

But nope. Apparently, the warmth of a hot lunch is too much to ask for in Washoe County… unless you’re an overpaid official with a taxpayer-funded salary and a climate-controlled office.

Monday, April 21st cold lunch that was suppose to be a hot lunch for senior citizens. Photo is from Commissioner Mike Clark’s social media page.

And what’s the excuse this time? Budget? Logistics? “We’re remodeling” is not a valid reason to pull the plug on hot meals for the elderly. Especially not when there was already a solution in place—a temporary kitchen that was working until Brown decided otherwise. And still, the vendor pretends it’s business as usual.

Where’s the oversight? Where’s the accountability? More importantly, where’s the decency?

This isn’t just about a hot meal. It’s about what that meal represents—dignity, respect, and the bare minimum standard of care for those who have spent decades contributing to their communities. Instead, they’re being met with indifference disguised as efficiency.

It’s time for Washoe County to stop treating its seniors like afterthoughts. And maybe it's time for County Manager Brown to remember he’s not getting any younger either. A little compassion might go a long way—especially when the next cold sandwich could be his.