Hard times continue for LOEL Center

Homebound seniors to get week's worth of food in one day

Workers and volunteers from Lodi's LOEL Center will begin delivering food to homebound seniors on Mondays only, but they'll check up on the more frail seniors twice more during the week.

The Meals on Wheels program conducted in Lodi and throughout San Joaquin County has hit hard times since the county's nonprofit contractor, Seniors First, shut down permanently on June 13. Seniors First had contracted with the county to provide meals for seniors. The county's Human Services Department now receives frozen meals from an organization called Healthy Harvest.

Tracy Williams

Homebound seniors in the Lodi area who don't have access to an oven or microwave have their meals thawed out by LOEL employees and volunteers prior to delivery, said Tracy Williams, the LOEL Center's president and CEO.

Contacted outside her office, Moore said Tuesday afternoon she wasn't sure if Lockeford has a home-delivery route.

Although the LOEL Center will comply with the county's request to deliver all meals on Mondays beginning next week, Williams said "home checks" will be made on Wednesdays and Fridays.

LOEL Center provides 130 meals to homebound seniors between Eight Mile Road and the Sacramento County line, and from Victor west to roughly Interstate 5. The center provides another 55 meals each day to seniors who visit the center.

In Lockeford, Rose Lazzaro, recently appointed to the county Commission on Aging, said she is working with the county to return the senior nutrition program to Lockeford.

Seniors ate lunch at the old Lockeford schoolhouse on Jack Tone Road until renovations began in 2003. For a short period of time, seniors ate at the Lockeford Grange Hall, but it's been several years since there has been a place locally for seniors to eat.

Lazzaro said she hopes that the renovated 19th-century schoolhouse will be available again by September.

Moore said that some Lockeford seniors get help from family and friends. However, some are going without meals from the county.

Low-income seniors are eligible for a wide array of services, Moore said.

Before it went out of business, Seniors First prepared and delivered 77,000 meals to the LOEL Center and 16 other locations throughout the county annually. In addition, 146,800 meals were also delivered to home-bound seniors.

The county gets about $900,000 from the federal Older Americans Act to serve about 900 seniors in the county, Moore said in June.

To receive a home-delivered meal, seniors must be 60 or older, incapable of preparing hot meals and unable to drive or use public transportation, Williams said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.