Zealand Shannon: The Syracuse Parks Department and Peace Inc., a local non-profit, bean their effort today to provide free, nutritious lunches to seniors. The meals go out Monday through Friday at the Bob Cecile Community Center on the West Seneca Turnpike.
John Densler: Hopefully I’ll be alive when you publish this. At 76 you never know! Sometimes you just don’t get to get the second meal.
Shannon: For seniors like John Densler, the inability to get a healthy meal during the pandemic has been a significant problem, especially when there isn’t help at home.
Densler: It’s important because I’m single and I don’t necessarily prepare my meals.
Shannon: There are no national statistics available yet, but in New York City, NYC Foodbank announced a study saying one in five seniors are food insecure during the pandemic.
Dan Fletcher: For some seniors this might be the only meal they receive – might be the only meal they have all day.
Shannon: The story is about more than food though, especially when it comes to Peace Inc.’s Kathryn Brown.
(Nat Sound Conversation)
Shannon: She started as a part-time employee a couple of years ago with Peace Inc. to help seniors with not just food but something more, which has become more prevalent than ever in a pandemic era.
Kathryn Brown: I don’t think many people listen to their stories… I just take time to listen and they love that.
Shannon: That’s where the Syracuse Parks Department comes in, providing the venue, and a helping hand like program director Chris Abbott.
Chris Abbott: We decided together with PEACE to bring back the program as a to-go program for seniors to come and take a meal.
Shannon: Seniors have to call ahead in order to get a meal like this one. They can only pick them up from 11:30 to 12:30 Monday through Friday.”)
Abbott: Once we’re up and running people can just tell us the next time they wanna come back, and we’ll write it down. Just so we have enough food each day.”)
Shannon: With the logistics settled, this drive-through food program could be much more of a beginning than an end.
Abbott: You just see the light at the end of the tunnel of this pandemic, we’re excited about what could come.
Shannon: Zealand Shannon, N-C-C News
(Nat rollout)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — As the pandemic reaches its one-year anniversary, food insecurity among seniors has emerged as one of their biggest pandemic-related challenges.
While there are no national statistics, NYC Foodbank released a study that said one in five seniors is food insecure in New York City.
Even when seniors have food readily available, that does not mean it’s part of a healthy, sustainable diet. This is the case for local senior John Densler.
“It’s important because I’m single and I don’t necessarily prepare my meals,” Densler said.
He typically rotates between a few fast food places for his meals and had been hoping for a better option in the community. That is where the Syracuse Parks Department, together with the non-profit organization Peace Inc., comes in. As a joint effort, they started a program last Monday providing local seniors with a free lunch.
but the free lunches give him a chance to eat vegetables and stay healthy when he cannot go to the store.
It is the latest government effort to provide resources to older citizens, who have suffered magnified effects from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Dan Fletcher, a Peace Inc employee, is well aware of how crucial these free lunches could be.
“For some seniors, this might be the only meal they receive,” Fletcher said. “Might be the only meal they have all day.”
The program provides more than just a meal though, with part-time employees like Kathryn Brown befriending the local seniors. She worked at Peace Inc. before the pandemic began, and has managed to keep up with most of them over the phone since. Now, she has a chance to talk to them in person again.
“I don’t think many people listen to their stories,” Brown said. “I just take time to listen and they love that.”
On the first day of the program, Brown’s questions about husbands who stayed home, dogs, and grandkids were met with smile after smile.
For Chris Abbott of the Parks Department, the program’s beginning is a sign of things to come.
“You just see the light at the end of the tunnel of this pandemic,” Abbott said. “We’re excited about what could come.”
The free meals will be distributed Monday through Friday at the Bob Cecile Community Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
