When 99-year-old Evelyn Hallet began attending lunch at Luepke Senior Center in Vancouver, the solemn atmosphere made eating there less enjoyable.

“It was dead, just like a funeral in there,” Hallett said. “It was like a Depression era soup line.”

So she got to work to revive it.

Nestled alongside Marshall Community Center, Luepke Senior Center, 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd., is home to a variety of social clubs and recreational activities for Vancouver’s older adults. It is where many of them go to receive a free, hot meal provided by the local branch of Meals on Wheels People , a national nonprofit that provides healthy meals to anyone over the age of 60.

Hallett, who will be 100 years old on Nov. 1, is one of those people.

Through the Vancouver-based nonprofit Area Agency on Aging

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