URBANA — Every weekday, around 11:30, a half-dozen friends gather for lunch at the First United Methodist Church in Urbana.

Their average age is somewhere above 80, but you wouldn't know it by the conversation. There's talk of dancing, working in the yard, vacations, even in-line skating.

It's an important social hour for these seniors, who otherwise might be eating alone.

"The pits, to me, is to cook a meal and sit down and eat it all by myself," said Lloyde Dees, 92, a longtime church volunteer and lunch patron.

The food is provided by the Peace Meal Senior Nutrition Program based at Eastern Illinois University, which this week announced it would have to cut back its service to four days a week over the summer to fill a budget gap.

Rising food prices and $4-a-gallon gas have taken a financial toll on the program, which delivers meals to the homebound and to 59 senior centers, churches and community facilities that serve meals. In all, it feeds more than 6,000 people a year in 14 counties across East Central Illinois.

"Costs have gone up, and funding's down," said Barbra Wylie, director of Peace Meal in Charleston. "In our best years, funding has stayed flat. It's just finally caught up to us."

Donations have also ebbed with the economy, though donors remain generous.

"There's a lot of people with less disposable income right now," she said.

It became obvious halfway through the year that cuts were inevitable to address a $150,000 deficit, Wylie said. It was important to find a way to cut costs without hurting their most vulnerable clients, homebound seniors, she said.

The plan is to deliver two meals on Thursdays, so that they'll have something to carry over to Friday, she said. The same is true at the meal sites, if seniors order an extra meal in advance, she said.

Though food costs will remain the same, cutting back hours will save on staff time and transportation costs.

Wylie is applying for expanded federal grants and is hopeful Peace Meal can resume five-day service in the fall.

"The reason we're doing this is to stay strong," she said. "We have to maintain a balanced budget to protect this program for the future seniors who need it and to provide ongoing services for the ones who use it now."

She worries about the seniors in the homebound program losing face-to-face contact on Fridays. Drivers are sometimes the only ones who see them every day, so they can tell when something's wrong and alert the staff or a family member, she said. There have been numerous occasions where a senior has fallen and the Peace Meal volunteer has had to call 911, she said.

Peace Meal delivers food to homebound seniors across Champaign County, and to senior centers or churches in Champaign, Urbana, Sidney, Homer and Rantoul.

The suggested donation is $3 per meal, but some give more, some give less.

"No one is turned away for inability to pay," Wylie said.

The agency's annual expenses are $2.8 million to $3 million a year, she said.

Federal and state funding makes up about 40 percent of the budget, and another 20 percent comes from participant contributions. The remaining 40 percent comes from local United Way chapters, local governments and private donations.

Eastern Illinois University, which sponsors Peace Meal, has helped carry the agency through rough periods caused by late state payments.

In Champaign County, Peace Meal gets funding from Colfax, Ludlow and Philo townships, the village of Sidney, the city of Urbana/Cunningham Township consolidated social services funds, United Way of Champaign County, Community Foundation of East Central Illinois, Victor A. Hoersch Elderly Services Trust and the Ruth Hayward Foundation, Wylie said.

To eliminate the deficit, Peace Meal has also cut back its staff, with just four full-time employees in Charleston, and cut workers' hours by 20 percent. Office staff will rotate four days a week to keep the office open Monday through Friday for caregiver referrals and other needs, she said.

When the First United Methodist Church site lost its Peace Meal cook/supervisor a year ago, Dees filled in temporarily so the group could continue getting together to eat pre-packaged lunches.

"They just liked it so much they decided to eat it here," said Peace Meal Assistant Director Kathy Lenz, who oversees Champaign County. "It's good for them to get out, get dressed and do something and be somewhere."

Dees and Joseph Coats, 82, of Urbana have been coming to lunch there for 25 years.

"It's food I don't have to cook, dishes I don't have to do, and camaraderie," Dees said.

Like the others there Friday, Gil Pfeiffer, 76, makes the lunch a daily stop, after his trip to the Urbana Library and post office. He bikes or takes the bus (saving his in-line skating for Meadowbrook Park).

If anyone can't make it, supervisor Pat Render saves their meal in a to-go container.

John Goodell, 83, started coming when his late wife contracted Parkinson's and had a hard time cooking. Her brother gave her $100 worth of Peace Meal gift certificates.

He now brings his dance partner, Marjorie Peters.

"I'm always surprised how many people don't take advantage of it," Goodell said.