Meals On Wheels Rolling Along

Pauline Valdivia, Executive Director at Jovenes de Antaño Senior Services, sat down with our Digital Media Specialist Raul Ceja over a cup of coffee and discussed the longevity of the organization and the pressing needs as they relate to the elderly community in San Benito County.

While Jovenes de Antaño continues to serve low-income and frail senior citizens with over 20,000 meals each year, Valdivia said due to increasing costs of delivery of the Meals On Wheels program, there has also been a need for additional funding. Since the organization’s inception in 1975, up until now, there has been no other Meals On Wheels service for the elderly in San Benito County. “Every year we continue to grow our waiting list. Currently, we have 44 seniors on our waiting list,” said Valdivia, as she continued to explain how all clients in the program are registered, screened, assessed, and entered into the organization’s database.

In the summer of 2017 the Community Foundation for San Benito County awarded Jovenes de Antaño a grant of $10,000 to support the Golden Age Nutrition Meals on Wheels program. The grant will allow the organization to continue serving the elderly community and service the 44 seniors who are on the waiting list. Valdivia told Ceja, as they finished up their coffee, “Without the support of the Community Foundation we would have to reduce the number of meals delivered, quite significantly.”