For the past year, Chuck Seidler of Geneva has regularly stopped by the Geneva Township Senior Center to grab lunch with friends he’s met through The Salvation Army’s Golden Diners program.

Not only does he get an inexpensive meal a few days a week, he gets a chance to socialize.

“I don’t want to be too isolated,” said Seidler, who lives alone. “I’ve been very happy. ... I’ve made friends here, and acquaintances.”

Fortunately for Seidler and thousands of other seniors, organizers of the Golden Diners program figured out a way to spare the program from financial cuts that have been forced because of federal sequestration.

The federal sequestration was a set of automatic budget cuts that started in March when lawmakers and the president could not come to an agreement to reduce federal spending.

The spending reductions are meant to cut $85.4 billion in federal spending this year and $1.1 trillion in spending over 10 years.

Among the cuts was senior meals funding, which meant federally assisted programs such as Meals on Wheels would be able to serve 4 million fewer meals, according to the White House.

“For us, it’s a $32,000 cut, and fortunately we did some pre-emptive steps this fall,” said Maj. Ken Nicolai, who administers the program for The Salvation Army in Kane and McHenry counties.

Those steps included switching from catered meals to preparing all of the meals in-house at an Elgin location.

The cost of each meal went from $4.62 to an average of $3.26.

That switch also helped eliminate a waiting list of 82 seniors in need of a nutrition program, Nicolai said.

“Otherwise, with the sequester cuts, we would have well over 100 seniors on the waiting list,” Nicolai said. “We’re one of the few fortunate ones not to have one.”

Cindy Zacher, site manager at the Geneva Township Senior Center, said about 20 to 25 seniors stop by the Geneva location for lunch during the three days a week meals are served.

She said a $3 donation is requested, but not required.

There are nine Golden Diners locations in Kane County, and the program includes home-delivered meals and community dining locations.

Golden Diners projects it will serve 196,000 meals in both counties to seniors this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Nicolai said aside from changing the way Golden Diners meals are prepared, the cuts forced The Salvation Army to purchase vehicles and equipment, such as warmers and steam tables used to keep food at a proper temperature.

He said if no funding is restored, “we would need an emergency plan.”

“We don’t want this to go on more than this year because then it will mean that we’ll have to take money out of our operating budget, which means less meals [will be served],” he said.

Nicolai said the benefits of the Golden Diners program far outweigh the cost.

He said offering meal deliveries and on-site meals help seniors avoid institutionalization, and most seniors want to stay in their homes as long as possible.

“Nutrition is a big one – a lot of seniors can’t make a meal, and they develop health problems, things like that,” he said.

“For the $3.26 a meal, we can assure that that nutrition keeps coming.”

• Shaw Media reporter Joseph Bustos contributed to this report.