'A game-changer for us': Western communities start serving group meals to older residents

Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post
·4 min read
James Smith, a program coordinator at the Wellington Community Center, serves a plate of food during a holiday-themed luncheon on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at the Wellington Community Center in Wellington, FL. Wellington Cares, together with the Wellington Community Center, is planning to start a meals program that will provide senior guests with free daily meals at the center.

WELLINGTON ― Nearly three years since the pandemic forced people into isolation, a group of more than 250 seniors this month gathered for the first time in the village’s Community Center. The site will be home to the first congregate meal site for seniors in the western suburbs of Palm Beach County.

“We were happy to be able to get together again,” said Ramon Silvacoll, 77, who is retired and has lived in Wellington for over 20 years. “As a big group like this one.”

Volunteers served local seniors plates of baked chicken and vegetables on Dec. 17 during a lunch party hosted by the village to enroll them in a new federal food program aimed at ensuring people over the age of 60 eat nutritious meals and have a space to socialize.

Starting in January, Wellington's Community Center on Forest Hill Boulevard will serve lunch and breakfast five days a week to seniors in the county's western communities.

“It’s kind of a game-changer for us,” said Jennifer Brito, the village's senior services specialist. “When they come, it will help us identify who is in need, and what are their needs, so that we can get them proper services.”

Almost 17% of the 62,000 people who live in Wellington are over the age of 60, according to data from the U.S. Census. Similarly, in Royal Palm Beach 16% of the 39,000 residents are seniors.

Season to Share:Belle Glade man lost his health, savings, phone. Is home next?

How Wellington is growing:Planners endorse Mark Bellissimo's 'Equestrian Village' proposal

'All being priced out':Soaring rents in Wellington, Royal Palm have some wondering if they can stay

Wellington Village partners with nonprofit and uses state, federal funds

The village partnered with Wellington Cares, a local nonprofit that provides free services to older people, and the county's Senior Services Division, to establish the 13th congregate meal site in Palm Beach County. Volunteers will also deliver meals to people who are home-bound.

The state's Department of Elder Affairs and the Area Agency on Aging of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast will sponsor freshly cooked meals and also provide nutrition-education classes and health-risk screenings.

“It will help individuals get out of the house," said Diane Gutman, director of Wellington Cares. "And have a meal with somebody and not sit in the house and eat dinner or lunch or breakfast by themselves seven days a week."

Want more Wellington news?

Sign up for our Post on Wellington weekly newsletter, delivered every Thursday!

Brito and Gutman first thought of establishing a congregate meal site during the pandemic.

They've collaborated for years to help seniors living in the village and in Royal Palm Beach. Gutman's volunteers conduct house visits, take elders shopping and drive them to their medical appointments.

For the first two years of the pandemic, Gutman said she saw how being isolated was affecting the mental and physical health of all the clients she visited in both villages.

" 'This is the first hug I've had since the start of the pandemic,' " they told Gutman. "It was that touch they were missing."

Program will help agencies identify which seniors need services

An employee of the Wellington Community Center serves a plate of hot food during a holiday-themed lunch on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at the Wellington Community Center in Wellington, FL. Wellington Cares, together with the Wellington Community Center, is planning to start a meals program that will provide senior guests with free daily meals at the center.

In 2020, the county established the first biweekly food drives in the area in Royal Palm Beach's Commons Park that served all nearby communities until October. Brito and Gutman noticed it quickly attracted seniors who needed ready-to-eat meals and wanted to at least interact with volunteers through their windows.

They reached out to Faith Manfra, the county's director of senior services, who helped them apply for the sponsorship for the meals. Hosting the daily meals, Manfra says, is important because as people age, the harder it becomes for them to cook and interact with others independently.

"Seniors get very depressed living by themselves in their homes," Manfra said. "For the congregate meal, they can get dressed, get out and socialize."

Bob Nappi, who has volunteered for over eight years for Wellington Cares, said he was shocked to see the line of seniors standing in line to sign-up for the program.

"This town is very wealthy, but not everybody," said Nappi, who is also a commander of the Florida Legion Post 390. "There's a lot of old elderly people in the community that live by themselves. They need that food every week."

Brito says she hopes the program will give her and Gutman the opportunity to meet more seniors in need and constantly check up on them.

“We really want seniors to come to spend all day here with us,” said Brito. “They have their meals and then at 3 p.m. be able to go home and their whole morning is full of socialization.”

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @ValenPalmB.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County to offer senior citizens free meals near Wellington