Signal Staff Writer
tmarashlian@the-signal.com
Posted: Oct. 16, 2009 10:39 p.m.
On a recent morning, a group of about 20 seniors mingled and waited in the recreation room of the Canyon Country Senior Apartments.
One by one, volunteers with the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry and Lily Wolfe, senior outreach coordinator, checked in the seniors and directed them to the lobby with smiles on their faces.
There they found Nancy Fisher, another volunteer, who helped the seniors move bags of food stacked on shelves into their carts.
Before the seniors could peek into the bags of canned fruit, vegetables and snacks, Fisher guided them to another stand, where they picked out loaves of bread and sweet treats to snack on.
It was the second Tuesday of the month and the food pantry was stationed at the Canyon Country apartment complex, ready to drop off food to about 60 seniors in need.
“A lot of the seniors can’t make it to the food pantry,” Wolfe said.
The program started in 1992 when the food pantry established a “Senior Only Day” for seniors to collect food.
But the food pantry soon found a problem with asking seniors to come to them to pick up supplies.
“There are a lot of senior citizens who are community bound in their senior complexes,” said Belinda Crawford, executive director of the SCV Food Pantry.
In 2007, the pantry decided to establish the Senior Outreach Mobile Distribution Program, which brings volunteers and meals to six locations throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.
“It was so key to go where they live and make it convenient for them,” Crawford said.
Since its start, the program has served more than 1,100 senior clients. An average of 90 seniors per month pick up food at the SCV Food Pantry site and 300 per month are served through the distribution program.
As the program grew, the food pantry added two locations a year. With distribution units visiting seniors in Canyon Country, Castaic, Saugus, Valencia and Acton, the goal is to add a seventh outreach location within the next year, Crawford said.
The program brings food to seniors, who might not use the pantry’s services on a regular basis.
“Senior citizens are a proud generation,” Crawford said. “It is difficult for them to ask for help.”
Seniors who qualify and sign up for the monthly program receive a bag of food that includes everything from cereal and snacks to canned fruits and vegetables.
When available, the food pantry delivers low-sodium goods to meet the dietary needs of the seniors.
As much as the food pantry would like to provide regular full meals to seniors, Crawford said the outreach is designed to provide supplemental food.
The service gives options to seniors, many of whom are living on fixed incomes and cannot afford supplemental food.
“A lot would go without it,” Crawford said.
The outreach program has benefited Pat Quinn, a 68-year-old resident of Canyon Country Senior Apartments, for the past year.
“It’s one of the many ways of helping people who are not able to get out,” she said, while pushing a cart of food.
Quinn said many seniors live on a fixed income that is often less than $1,000 a month.
“They no longer can make money. Money is pinched,” she said.
Like the other seniors, Quinn is appreciative of food pantry’s efforts.
“It is one of the most wonderful things,” she said. “This is neighbors helping neighbors.”
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