You know about the rising cost of food and gasoline. You deal with it every day.

Now imagine holding together a program that delivers meals every week by vehicle to 350 elderly people who can’t leave their homes.

That’s the challenge faced by Pam Relay, nutrition director for the Whatcom County Council on Aging.

Through its Meals on Wheels, the council delivers about 64,000 meals each year to homebound county residents who are 60 or older. The council also provides about 110,000 hot meals each year at local senior centers and high-rise apartments for the elderly.

It costs nearly $1 million a year to serve and deliver those meals.

“Some of them, that’s the best meal they’re probably going to get the whole day,” said Jerry Warren, coordinator of the Ferndale Senior Center, where about 50 people show up for a hot lunch each weekday, except on Thursdays when there’s entertainment and the turnout can double.

Senior centers that serve hot lunches request donations from their elderly eaters. People don’t have to pay anything, but the centers are asking them to donate more, if they can, to help cover the $5.50 it costs to prepare a lunch.

To trim expenses, Relay has reduced the frequency of food deliveries to kitchens where the hot meals are made, and is serving more affordable meals — more chicken, less beef, for example — while still providing 600 to 800 tasty calories per serving.

Volunteers deliver most of the hot and frozen meals to people’s homes. When gas prices were low, many of them didn’t bother to request mileage reimbursement. But those requests have understandably risen since gas prices spiked, Relay said.

The program isn’t in dire straits, but extra fundraising will be needed, and major changes and cuts could be necessary if expenses outrace income in the future, she said.

The nutrition program gets its money from four sources: government funding, donations from eaters, income from catering, and up to $150,000 a year through its own fundraisers.

To offset higher expenses, supporters hope to raise an additional $40,000 next April with their first dinner auction, and might need to somehow raise $25,000 more, Relay calculates.

If future budgets remain tight, the preparation of hot meals might be consolidated in fewer kitchens, maybe in one kitchen. If the situation really sours, there could be a waiting list for Meals on Wheels, and some lunch programs could close, Relay said.

Supporters say that would be terrible, because elderly people tend to cook less well and less often, especially if they live alone. The hot lunches and home meals, they say, can make the nutritional difference between staying put and moving into a nursing home.

“This meal is substantial,” said Barbara Fischer, who oversees Blaine Senior Center. “It should provide enough calories for at least half a day.”

Beyond the caloric value, the meals also provide social sustenance — from the volunteers who check on the homebound person when they drop off a meal, to the schmoozing that accompanies lunch with a familiar crowd.

“It’s a family feeling,” Warren said. “That’s important when you don’t get the hugs at home anymore.”