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The Glenn and Colusa County Senior Nutrition Program has operated for 23 years out of the Glenn County Office of Education. Although well-established, its staff realized they were not serving the area’s large Latino population. “Our home-bound Latino seniors wouldn’t accept the meals we offered, not only because the food was too bland for them, but because we hadn’t been able to earn their trust,” said Cindy Cushman, Glenn County education grants manager. Using a two-year, $80,000 grant from TCWF, they contracted with a local Mexican restaurant to prepare ethnic meals one day a week, serving 6,215 meals during the grant period. Meal deliverers typically had to drive more than 200 miles, often on back roads, to complete their circuit. “We had to break through the cultural barriers, communicate through our Spanish-speaking volunteers and flyers to assure them we were there to help, not to check for green cards,” she said.
In addition to the meal program, the TCWF grant helped fund a resource director who worked with 12 agencies to develop a bilingual matrix of services, covering everything from senior services to health and transportation. A community group has been meeting monthly to provide input to service providers and learn how to work for improvements in their communities. “It’s exciting to see how resourceful agencies can become while providing services in far-reaching rural areas, by identifying and filling needs in their widespread communities,” said Pauline Daniels, TCWF program director. “Because of its success in wrapping health and human services around the nutrition program, it has become the primary provider of senior services in those two counties.” |
Healthy Meals for Seniors
Winter 2004
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