Senior funds could be cut

When the City Council considers how to allocate federal funding for local organizations tonight, one of the programs that could be on the brink is the Costa Mesa Senior Center’s free grocery distribution.

The Redevelopment and Residential Rehabilitation committee, which recommends how the city should allocate the Community Development Block Grant money, has determined the city should give the senior center $12,000 for the Senior Lunchbox program. Last year, the senior center received $14,000 for the program which provides free, healthy groceries for low-income seniors every couple weeks. Senior center officials say they could probably handle the difference, but a cut any deeper than that, coupled with rising food prices, might lead to the program’s demise.

City Councilwoman Wendy Leece’s visit to the center Friday afternoon to get a look at the program aroused anxiety for some senior center officials.

Leece, who has been questioning the senior center management for the last couple months as the council’s liaison, looked around the room where the Senior Lunchbox program distributes grocery items to needy seniors every other Friday. Leece declined to comment on how she would react to the committee’s recommendation.

During tonight’s meeting, the council will decide how much federal money to give 19 nonprofit programs under the Community Development Block Grant.

The committee has already made funding recommendations for each organization based on grant applications, interviews and visits to program sites.

“It’s a lot of information to process, and I’m continuing to do my homework. I haven’t made up my mind on any of them yet,” Leece said.

Senior Lunchbox is one of three free programs the center offers seniors to provide them food, but program coordinator Darrell Kim said it is unique because it offers them fresh produce, juices, milk, canned food and other items they might not get otherwise. The center’s other programs give out hot food and dry goods.

“We started this program when we noticed that a lot of seniors were getting thin because prescriptions are getting so expensive and they’re on low fixed incomes,” said Aviva Goelman, the center’s executive director, referring to how some seniors skip meals to pay for their medicine.

Joan Ellis, 79, depends on Senior Lunchbox for her groceries. She estimates she gets 95% of her food from the program, and said if it were terminated she would have to go to the soup kitchen across the street on a daily basis instead of being able to make salads and soups for herself.

She said some seniors line up at 11 a.m. for the popular program even though the doors don’t open until 1 p.m.

“Many of us never thought we’d be in this position,” Ellis said. “I worked for a software company, and when it sold out to a bigger company I lost my job and couldn’t find another one.”

Seventy seniors are enrolled in the program and the $14,000 the center received from the city last year was the program’s only source of funding, according to Goelman. 

The center as a whole received $240,000 from the city last year, according to Assistant City Manager Tom Hatch.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Are you satisfied with the way the city has handled Community Development Block Grant funding this year? Send us an e-mail at dailypilot@latimes.com or leave a comment on our website.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.