Delivering holiday cheer

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Betsy Crimi has been going this route for the past 17 years. You know

the one: it’s the road paved with goodwill and holiday cheer.

Crimi, a human services supervisor, will help lead the Huntington

Beach Senior Outreach Center Services’ annual delivery of Thanksgiving

meals to several elderly homebound residents of Huntington Beach.

Crimi said that about 80 elderly residents will receive a Thanksgiving

Day feast that includes turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry

sauce, yams and pumpkin pie.

The meal drive is in collaboration with Norm’s Family Restaurant on

Beach Blvd, where the meals will be packaged this morning for delivery.

The bounty also is made possible through the generous donations

provided by several individuals.

“It is through this generosity that so many others will be able to

enjoy a nice holiday meal,” said Crimi, who works for the Huntington

Beach Community Services department. “It’s a wonderful program that we

run for seniors who are ill, can’t get out, or who might have families

who live out of town or out of state, and will be spending the holidays

alone.”

Donations come to the senior outreach center on a regular basis and

key organizations that contribute are the Council On Aging Senior Team

and the Huntington Beach Handicrafters. Fund-raisers and grants

principally fund the program.

Council On Aging Senior Team volunteers deliver the meals throughout

the city on a route that, Crimi says, will take up to 1 1/2 hours to

complete. Twelve volunteers will be making the rounds today.

In case a volunteer cannot make a delivery, Jane Wells has filled the

role of emergency volunteer contact for several years.

“These volunteers are eager to deliver these meals,” said Crimi.

“Sometimes they will bring their families along and for a lot of these

children who come along on these deliveries, they get a sense of how some

of these folks have no family around, and they realize just how fortunate

they are.”

The Thanksgiving Day meal delivery provided by the outreach center is

a holiday supplement to its regular daily meal delivery program, also

known as, “Meals on Wheels.” The center delivers breakfast, lunch and

dinners, Monday through Friday, to approximately 140 senior residents.

Other holiday delivery dates include Christmas, Valentine’s Day,

Easter and the Fourth of July.

Also involved in the program is the Brownies, Girl Scouts and National

Charity League. The three groups provide tray favors, such as the small

turkey decoration that will be delivered today with the meals.

In the 17 years that Crimi has been involved with the meal delivery

program, she says that the work is as fulfilling today as it was that

first year.

“It is a gratifying experience and I know that everyone involved with

the program feels the same way,” she said. “This center has a lot to

offer, and we’re pleased that we can provide a little holiday cheer to

some of our homebound seniors. These generous volunteers are filling a

need that truly needs to be fulfilled.”