A program that has provided meals to residents of the Palmerton Area School District for over half a century has disbanded.

It is with a heavy heart that the board of directors of the Palmerton Meals on Wheels organization has decided to discontinue this service.

Meals on Wheels of Palmerton delivered hot lunches to those returning home from a hospital stay or who may just require some assistance preparing meals.

Lunches were delivered around 11 a.m. Monday to Friday, for a small fee.

“Due to circumstances beyond the board’s control, the difficult decision was made to dissolve the organization, effective Nov. 27,” the group said in a prepared statement. “The current clients of the organization have been notified.

“The board would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to those clients who participated, and the many volunteer drivers who made the daily delivery of meals possible. Additionally, the board would also like to thank the organizations, private businesses and individuals who have donated to Meals on Wheels throughout the years. Without you, our mission would not have survived for the past 53 years.

“It is the hope of the board members that your monetary donations now be sent to another charity of your choice. We will always be grateful to this community for their unwavering support.”

Contacted Thursday afternoon, Becky Steigerwalt, president of the Meals on Wheels board of directors, said their clients knew in October that Meals on Wheels would be phasing out its deliveries.

“The client base was declining, and our drivers were getting older, and so we were losing our volunteer drivers, which was forcing people to drive every week or being forced to substitute and drive a couple of days a week, and that really was becoming a problem,” Steigerwalt said.

Steigerwalt noted that when the former Palmerton Hospital sponsored the program, they had about 30 clients.

“And once they closed, the decline happened,” she said. “We never really regained that population again.”

At the time of its closure, Palmerton Meals on Wheels had just eight clients, Steigerwalt said.

As a result of its closure, she said that Bert’s Steakhouse & Restaurant has taken on the responsibility of delivering meals to those clients.

Palmerton Meals on Wheels had served Palmerton and the surrounding communities since 1972 by providing meals or people in need who, due to age, illness or injury, inability to shop or prepare food, or other handicaps, could not prepare a proper meal for themselves.