A lifeline for seniors during virus pandemic
For seniors like 80-year-old Jose Mejia, the isolation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic can be especially lonely and frightening.
Many crave a safe place to see familiar faces, to share a hello or a goodbye, to find a balanced meal — even if it’s only for a short time each day.
Mejia, who lives in San Jose’s Alum Rock neighborhood, and others like him find a glimmer of joy at the Eastside Neighborhood Center, run by Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.
The center has become a place where he can take part in socially distanced outdoor exercise classes
and receive nutritional take-home meals that the agency provides — among many other services — for its registered guests.
“It’s an option to get to see other people and to do something during the day,” the Spanish-speaking Mejia said through an interpreter. “I really appreciate that I get to see people that I know.”
But Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County is hurting. The pandemic has turned its budget upside down as staffers have tried to accommodate the needs of a growing number of seniors who seek amenities offered at Catholic Charities’ centers — Eastside in the Alum Rock neighborhood and John XXIII Multi Service Center in downtown San Jose.
So Catholic Charities is seeking $50,000 through Wish Book to help the nonprofit meet the demand.
In July, Catholic Charities provided meals for 9,336 seniors, some 2,000plus more than it had budgeted. And the increase in demand came at a time when county funding for senior nutrition dipped below what was already 70% of costs.
Catholic Charities’ general fund typically covers the difference. But amid the pandemic, the financial gap has grown to $15,000 per month for senior meals alone and the nonprofit has been forced to lay off employees to compensate for some of the increases in demand, according to the agency.
“The reason why we picked the senior center (for Wish Book) is that it’s so much more than just giving them a meal or giving them enough food for the week,” said LaDonn DuBois, the agency’s senior director of communications. “It’s being able to see somebody and even though they can’t touch or dance or anything like that, it’s just being recognized and looked after so to speak.
“It’s a connection and making sure that their neighbors are OK. We have increased tenfold the amount of meals that we’ve served daily and weekly, and we’ve had to turn people away, which is something we never want to do. The extra money will help us so that we can increase our meals and continue to help these seniors who are all on super-fixed income.”
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County has offered essential services to people of all faiths and backgrounds since 1955.
Ofaloto Ruiz and her husband, Louis, started visiting the Eastside Center in April, weeks after Santa Clara County’s shelter-inplace order went into effect to combat the virus. They found out about the center through 211, a 24-hour national helpline that refers callers to essential services.
Originally from Tonga, Ruiz said she and Louis attend the center’s Monday and Wednesday morning exercise classes and wait in line for meals that are handed out on weekdays between 10:30 a. m. and noon.
“We stay 6 feet away and put our masks on every time,” Ruiz said. “The food is good and the exercise is good, too.”
“We’ ve fou nd l i ke - minded, compassionate people who care about each other,” said her husband. “It’s what we do at Eastside — we take care of each other.”
Before the pandemic, the Eastside center would fill up with about 150-plus seniors for meal services, and staff and volunteers would cook on the site.
Now meals are prepared off-site and served contactless.
“We’d like to serve more,
but we don’t have the funding for it,” DuBois said.
Some Wish Book funding will go toward volunteer coordinating, which the centers need to package, register and distribute meals.
It’s a whole different operation since the pandemic arrived last spring.
“I have noticed that many things have changed,” said Milton Cadena, program director of the Eastside Center. “This center has been very popular as a place for seniors so they can socialize and see their friends and neighbors. Now that we have to serve the seniors outdoors, it has been very challenging for us.
“We have to be creative in the way that we provide the services. Giving the meals to take out. Doing the exercises outdoors. Little by little, we are trying to gather the seniors because they are asking for it. They are asking for opportunities to participate in something that does them good.”
Catholic Char ities doesn’t just assist seniors. During the early months of the pandemic through the middle of the summer, the agency served nearly 131,000 households and a half- million people at multiple sites throughout the county, an enormous increase from the usual 40,000 individuals served annually.
That isn’t expected to change.
No matter how long the pandemic lasts, Catholic Charities expects to be there doing what it’s already been doing for decades — offering senior meals, social activities and a little bit of hope.
“It’s more than a meal,” Ruiz said, “we can’t wait to come here in the morning. It’s changed our life.”