Emily Lain is learning to become a leader.

Lain has been volunteering at the Mexico Activity & Nutrition Center for nearly five years.

When she started, she devoted most of her attention to the Meals on Wheels program, taking meals with the help of her husband John to seniors in need .

In July 2025, she was elected president of the Mexico Activity & Nutrition Center board and after serving as vice president and event coordinator, she was prepared for her new role yet surprised by her election all the same.

“There was nobody else with a passion for doing activities for the senior center,” Ione Bickell, administrator at the Mexico Activity and Nutrition Center, said. “It was her drive.”

Lain will carry out a two-year term as president of the board.

“I am kind of like a partner with Ione now,” Lain said. “I try to help her out where she needs me.”

When she accepted her position as president, Lain was immediately forced to make some very difficult decisions with her board members including whether the Mexico Activity & Nutrition center would continue to partner with Aging Best.

“We as a board felt that we really couldn’t financially run the place on our own, so we chose to stay with Aging Best and get whatever help,” Lain said.

Recently, the center’s budget was “critically cut,” according to Bickell, and even with Aging Best’s assistance, the Mexico Activity & Nutrition Center had to let go two staff members from its already small, five-person staff.

“A few years ago, we paid nothing on our budget,” Bickell explained. “Now we are having to raise $108,000 this year. That’s a lot of money.”

This year, the Mexico Activity and Nutrition Center is responsible for paying for all of their raw food, which costs them about $6,000 a month.

Aging Best continues to pay for Meals on Wheels with the exception of the milk, juice and bread that the center is also responsible for.

“We served over 45,000 meals this past year,” Bickell said. “We did really good throughout the county.”

Bickell explained that they really pushed to serve as many meals as possible because some of their funding is based on how many meals they sell and volunteer hours.

“It was our volunteers that we kind of lacked on,” Bickell said. “We’re really working on keeping good track of our volunteer hours because that means reimbursement.”

While she has taken on more on the administration side of things, Lain’s mission to nourish seniors’ minds and bodies is still something she holds near and dear to her heart.

“It’s about doing the right thing and helping to take care of each other," Lain said. “We are a service to the community.”

Her events serve not only as a way to engage seniors mentally, but they also help boost the Mexico Activity & Nutrition Center’s meal numbers.

Lain has gained recognition in the community for her well-organized events at the center that attract up to 150 seniors.

“I will fight tooth and nail to keep this place open,” Lain said. “I am in a learning position of asking. I am a giver, not an asker, but I’m realizing my job is to step up and ask (for help.)”