Convenient, tasty, healthy and variety are just some of the words seniors used when talking about a free meal service available in Rancho Bernardo.
“The food is good, it is very healthy and I am eating more vegetables now than I have in my life,” said Iris Sussman, 80, of Escondido. “They are like old-fashioned TV dinners. There is a better assortment and healthier than what I buy at Trader Joe’s.”
Sussman, who volunteers two days a week at the Ed Brown Center for Active Adults in Rancho Bernardo Community Park, is one of the 103 seniors who are ed to pick up a box of frozen food in the center’s parking lot each Wednesday between noon and 1 p.m.
Another 163 seniors in Rancho Bernardo, Poway and Escondido have the free meal boxes delivered to their homes on Mondays.
The food program is run through Serving Seniors, a nonprofit organization in San Diego County for over 55 years. Anyone aged 60 or older is eligible to receive a free box of seven meals each week, said Melinda Forstey, Serving Seniors’ chief operating officer.
Many seniors picking up meals in Rancho Bernardo on March 5 were eager to praise the program.
“(The meals) are healthy, very convenient and it is so reliable because I can pick it up every week, rain or shine,” said Rancho Bernardo resident Elizabeth Lefcort, 83. “I am eating a lot better.”
Lefcort said her husband died two months ago, so cooking meals for just herself is something she has little motivation to do.
“The fact that they are free really helps,” she said. “They are low-calorie. I like that.”
Poway resident David May, 77, said he also lives alone. He knows how to cook, but has limited mobility, so maneuvering around his kitchen to cook while using his walker is challenging.
“These are very good and nutritious,” said May, who signed up for the meals program a year ago after reading a news brief in the Poway News Chieftain.
It is the variety of the meals that Maurice Nahum, a Rancho Bernardo resident in his 80s, said is his favorite aspect.
“I like the little desserts and drinks, it is convenient and helps,” Nahum said. “I like the veggies.”
The boxes have seven complete frozen dinners in addition to extras like slices of bread, juice, dry milk, fruit cups, boxes of raisins and margarine.
On March 5, the frozen meals in that week’s box included spaghetti and meatballs with whole kernel corn and broccoli; chicken patty with barbecue sauce, succotash and green beans; breaded pollock with green pea blend vegetables and carrots; and chicken tenders over zesty orange rice with bean blend, peppers and three seasons vegetables.
Each meal requires heating a few minutes in the microwave or a little longer in the oven.
“The meals were created by ed dieticians who work with the county,” Forstey said. “Each meal meets one-third of their daily dietary requirements.”
They also meet sodium thresholds and meals rotate seasonally. The meals are prepared in Sacramento, with ingredients coming from California farmers, Forstey said.
The program is not able to accommodate dietary restrictions, such as gluten-free, she said.
Several of the meal box recipients participate in the Ed Brown Center’s programs, such as Nahum, who is in a Wednesday exercise class. But center hip is not required to receive meals.
Site coordinator Taee Bird said over the past year he has gotten to know most of the seniors by name. He makes pickup a festive event, playing music of the ‘50s and ‘60s from the refrigerated van he parks in front of the center during the distribution.
Many recipients carry their boxes away, but if they have difficulty Bird puts the box in the trunk of their vehicle for them.
The Ed Brown Center’s to-go meal box program started in March 2024 after a short-lived on-site congregate lunch through another organization. The benefit of to-go meals is that seniors can eat them at any time, instead of being restricted to just the times when a congregate meal is served.
“It’s allowing seniors to have seven healthy meals per week,” said Kim Lange, executive director of the Ed Brown Center. “Many live alone and do not want to cook just for themselves or eat nutritiously as they should.”
Lange said she has gone to areas where low-income seniors live, such as Tizon in Rancho Bernardo and the Apollo Senior Apartments in Poway, to promote the program in person.
But she emphasized that meals are not based on income. They are free for any senior age 60 and older. She said the program can help seniors on limited incomes stretch their money further.
“A lot of seniors are homebound, do not drive and have difficulty getting their shopping done because they do not have a family member close by,” Lange said.
During the 2023-24 fiscal year, Serving Seniors fed nearly 1.2 million meals to 7,663 seniors in San Diego County through its home delivered, to-go, congregate and frozen meal programs, according to its annual impact report. It has 38 meal routes across the county and to-go meals in Rancho Bernardo was one of two new offerings it made last year. The other was a congregate dining site in La Mesa.
Forstey said because of how well the Rancho Bernardo meal box program has been received, Serving Seniors is planning on expanding it to other places where congregate meals are not an option.
“Many don’t realize that in Rancho Bernardo, where we know there is a large older adult population, that there is a need for these services,” Forstey said. “We saw the census data, where many older adults are living below the poverty line in that area.”
Forstey said Lang reached out about starting a congregate dining site, but they started with the to-go model to see how it worked.
“It has been incredibly successful, because a lot of individuals are food insecure … but perhaps are not available Monday to Friday at the same time for a meal. … They are out doing errands, so this is more convenient to meet their needs,” she said.
More than 180,000 older adults in the county are food insecure, according to San Diego Hunger Coalition data, Forstey said.
While Serving Seniors’ meals are funded by the County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency and Aging & Independence Services, Forstey said some funding comes from the federal government through the Older Americans Act.
That is a federal law ed by Congress in 1965 to provide services and to older adults.
“It encomes a variety of programs, including senior nutrition,” Forstey said. “It is a long-standing program with bipartisan .”
As of this time, Forstey said she has not heard of any planned federal funding cuts.
The meal boxes are distributed for free, though donations are accepted from those able to contribute. The requested donation is $2.50 per meal, which is $17.50 for a box.
If a senior recipient will have a non-senior guest eating meals, boxes are sold for $28, which is $4 per meal.
Participants are required to fill out a registration form so demographic data, including household income, can be collected. But Lange emphasized the information is confidential.
According to Forstey, her organization’s surveys have found that 90% of seniors who participate in Serving Seniors’ meal programs are better able to manage their health and 80% report eating healthier due to the meals containing vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
In addition 70% said their physical health improved. For those who participate in its congregate meals program, 80% reported that they were less isolated and have more socialization, which “is critical for older adults,” she said.
To receive meals, either by pick up at the Ed Brown Center on Wednesdays or having them delivered on Mondays, recipients must enroll by the previous Friday. They can call Serving Seniors at 619-235-6572 or stop by the Ed Brown Center at 18402 W. Bernardo Drive in Rancho Bernardo Community Park between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays.
